


Let's Go Play On Elm Street

by Saereth



Category: A Nightmare on Elm Street (Movies 1984-1994)
Genre: Alcohol, Anachronistic, Anal Sex, Blood and Gore, Blood and Violence, Character Death, Child Death, Cigarettes, Dream Sex, Dubious Consent, Eventual Smut, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Hate to Love, Light BDSM, Murder, Original Character Death(s), Romance, Rough Sex, Self-Indulgent, Torture, Vaginal Fingering, Vaginal Sex, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-04
Updated: 2020-06-08
Packaged: 2020-06-09 10:04:21
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 32
Words: 36,082
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19473214
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Saereth/pseuds/Saereth
Summary: Grand-daughter of final girl Nancy Thompson arrives on elm street after the death of her devoted grandmother only to find herself in a web of evil that was spun long before she was born. Who is the burned monster that is hunting her in her dreams and killing off her new friends? and why does he seem so familiar? (Basically a slow-burn OC with lots of murder, smut and a confusing but fun plot)





	1. Chapter One

_So this trash fire began after my gaming computer broke and I was left with nothing but an old windows 2000 laptop and no internet connection to entertain myself. It quickly evolved into a clumsy but fun story that is now almost fully complete, so now that I have a new computer I thought I would put it here to encourage myself to finish it. I know no one really enjoys OC work, but ehh, it was this or play through Disgaea 5 again, and i had fun writing it so i hope at least one person has fun reading it. Feel free to picture OC bae however you like (You kinky bastards are all picturing yourselves anyways, that's why I love you)_

_Oh and even though it's almost finished, I still enjoy constructive criticism, it helps me focus on the things I suck at._

_Enjoy!_

_______

Chapter One

Nancy barely batted an eye as she roared past the battered welcoming sign on the side of the road, only sparing a single glance to take in the blistered paint that read:

WELCOME TO SPRINGWOOD

_A Nice Place To Live!_

Barely  recognizable as human, the three waxen faced people that adorned the cheesy Americana sign grinned blankly back at her in the hot sun, leaving a  colourful after-image in her vision long after she had left it in the dust and crested the hill that revealed the sprawling suburban town below. 

Nancy slowed her speed to a legal range and lowered the volume on her stereo, leaving Alice Cooper to croon quietly in the background as she took in the town that she supposed she would be calling home for the foreseeable future.

Springwood looked just like all the other suburban towns she had passed through on her drive from California, its neat suburban streets were lined with sprawling oak trees, perfectly spaced to match each of the tidy houses that peered back at her as she drove.

Occasionally she would spot children on the footpath, screaming and laughing as they made their way home from school and at one point she found herself coming to a sudden halt to avoid a young boy as he dashed out in front of her panel van to rescue his football.

“Sorry!” He shouted over the scream of her horn, waving his hand before dashing back to the safety of the curb and leaving Nancy to shakily release her white-knuckled grip on the wheel with a sigh.

“Fucking hell,” she sighed, picking up her phone to double check the directions and give her hammering heart a chance to calm down.

She wasn’t far from the end of her journey now. When her grandmother had passed away last month she had been almost inconsolable. Nanna Nancy was the only family she had, and had raised her since she was a little girl when her parents had passed.

Now with her gone, Nancy Chambers was left with a considerable inheritance that included a house, and since she couldn’t bare to be alone in their old apartment, she decided a change was in order.

After wading her way through a bunch of paperwork, Nancy managed to transfer herself to Springwood High to finish her final year of school and packed her entire life into the old station wagon to head north, leaving the rest of her Nanna’s belongings to be placed in a rented storage unit in her new home town.

Nancy was pulled from her thoughts by  the welcome sight of a street sign and she turned down Elm Street with a jolt of excitement and began studying the numbers on the front of each house, counting her way towards her goal. 

1428 was hard for her to miss. It loomed up ahead of her between the hedges of its  neighbours looking thoroughly condemned in comparison to the other houses.

The few windows that weren’t broken were boarded shut in an attempt to prevent vandals from getting inside, its white paint peeled and flaked away in the sunlight and years of neglect had allowed the front lawn to fall victim to weeds that climbed and twisted from one side the fence to the other, consuming the footpath entirely.

Even as Nancy climbed out of her car and lit a smoke a single green shingle slipped from the roof and fell to the dirt with a sad  thud.

“Yikes,” she breathed, wondering if there had been a mistake. 

Nanna Nancy’s lawyer had spoken over the phone to the caretaker on her behalf, so Nancy had assumed that some  _care_ had actually been  _taken_ .

“You Chambers?” A gruff voice called, and Nancy quickly stubbed her smoke, turning to see a weathered old man approach her from across the road where he had apparently been watching her from the safety of his truck.

“That’s me,” Nancy replied, holding out her hand and letting the man give it a brisk shake. He smelled of whiskey and engine grease and she quickly wiped her hand on the back of her jeans when he turned from her to fish something from his pockets.

“Name’s Barker,” he said, “Got a call from a yer’ Lawyer friend sayin’ you’d be arriving ‘round this time- these are yours,” he held out a key-ring with several keys attached.

“Thanks, are you the guy who was meant to be looking after this place?” she asked, taking the keys.

“Somethin’ like that,” Barker said, ignoring the sarcasm in her voice and leading the way up the obscured footpath to the door, “I owned this place back in the 90’s,” he continued, “Never got around to fixin’ it up much like I wanted, but managed to sell it at a descent price anyway.”

“My Grandmother owned it. She left it to me,” Nancy said softly, feeling the familiar ache of loss at the thought of the woman for which she had been named.

“That’d be Mrs Thompson,” Barker nodded, warming to the subject, “She bought the place years back from me. House wasn’t in great shape even back then, but she said she didn’t mind. Lived here as a kid for a few years with her parents apparently.”

“Must have been a hell of a good few years if she wanted to buy the place,” Nancy muttered, sliding the key Barker pointed out into the heavy front lock.

“Aye, ‘s what I figured,” He nodded, “Good memories and all that. Thing is though, she never did show an interest in cleaning the place up or moving in herself. Just asked me to keep people away and keep the doors locked is all.”

The front door swung open with a theatrical groan, revealing dust coated carpet and walls covered in graffiti from the many transient visitors that must have nested here over the years.

Nancy stepped inside, kicking away a few empty cans with her boot. Behind her, Barker let out a low whistle.

“She’s a right sorry state,” he said, trailing behind Nancy as she picked her way through the debris and stepped into the living area.

The graffiti continued its messy trail from the hallway throughout the rest of the house, and Nancy could see that someone had tried to start a fire in the fireplace at one point.

“Has someone been living here?” she asked, taking in the depressing scene.

“Nah,” Barker waved his hand, “Just local kids over the years looking for a good spot to get boozed and bucked. Every other month or so I come by with a spotlight an’ they scatter like rats. Although, It wouldn’t be a shock to me if a few of the homeless souls that pass through called it home fer’ the night,” he added as an afterthought.

Nancy wondered if her Gr andma had paid Barker for his loyal services as caretaker. If so, there was no doubt he had pulled the wool over the old woman’s eyes for a bit of cheap  w hiskey. At least the man had thought enough to cover the furniture with plastic sheets. Some of it might be salvageable. 

“Right, I think I can manage from here,” she said turning to Barker, who stopped toying with a moth-eaten curtain with a guilty start.

“Right you are, Miss,” he nodded, pulling a battered looking card from his wallet and offering it to her, “My number, in case you need anythin’, powers all on at this end, but the old girl still has all the original parts, wires, water-heater and the like. Like as not you’ll be wanting a hand with something an’ I’m more than willing to help a friend out... For a price” he winked conspiratorially and Nancy fought the urge to gag as the slipped the card into her jeans knowing she would rather shower in ice-water than use her inheritance to pay him for anything.

Seemingly out of things to say, Barker nodded once more and tipped an invisible hat to her before letting himself out. Nancy watched him walk down the path and turn once at the end, as if to take a last look at his long-lived source of easy income before jogging across the road to his truck and disappearing from view.

A cloud of dust billowed up into the afternoon sunlight as she flopped down onto the couch and looked around the quiet house. She was no stranger to being alone, but being alone in a different state, in an unknown town with only an old, mistreated house and a car full of boxes to call her own was alarming, and the excitement she had felt at her fresh start seeped away and reality set in.

“I miss you, Nanna,” she sighed, lighting a smoke and watching a small roach make its way across the floor.

All around her, 1428 Elm Street began to stir.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

A blood chilling scream ripped through the old house on Elm Street the next morning, sending birds flying from their perches in the trees outside.

“Holy shit!” Nancy scrambled across the kitchen floor, throwing her cleaning rag at the offending creature that hissed at her from its corner beneath the sink.

She’d been working her way through the bulk of the cleaning since the sun had risen, piling up trash and setting aside anything interesting that caught her eye.

Nancy dashed to the back door and flung it open before returning to the kitchen armed with a broom.

“Get the fuck out of my house!” she yelled at the coiled pile of scales that glared back at her, flicking it’s tongue out angrily.

“Come on,” she nudged the snake with the end of her broom, urging it out of the cupboard and hopefully towards the back exit, “I don’t want to kill you, but you can’t stay there. Seriously, get the hell out!”

The snake reluctantly slipped onto the floor and turned towards the door, smelling the fresh air and making a break for it with a wary Nancy following behind brandishing her weapon until it was safe in the grass and she could slam the door closed.

“Well that’s put me off cleaning for a bit,” she said to nobody in particular.

Officially abandoning her cleaning duties, Nancy grabbed her bag and drove off towards the center of town in search of lunch.

It was Saturday, and Springwood was out in full swing enjoying the warm weather causing Nancy to drive much slower than usual to avoid a repeat of yesterday.

Eventually she spotted a promising diner surrounded by people around her age and she swung into the parking lot.

“The Crave Inn,” she read the worn red sign above the kitschy diner, the smell of fried foods coming from the inside making her mouth water.

Nancy wandered in and took a seat in an empty booth, taking in the old jukebox and checkered flooring that probably hadn’t been upgraded since the place was built.

The booth next the her was overcrowded with a group of shouting teens and she placed her order before pulling out an old paperback novel to pass the time.

When her shake arrived she glanced up and thanked the waitress, noticing several sets of eyes peering at her from over the top of the worn leather seating.

“Hey,” One of the guys said, “You’re new right?”

“You know everyone in this town?” Nancy asked, raising an eyebrow.

“I have a keen sense,” he whispered, climbing over the booth and sliding into the seat across from her without breaking eye contact, “You have an air of strangeness about you. A dark and lonely aura that-”

“Shut the fuck up Grady,” His facade was broken by a hand with polished nails cuffing him over the side of the head.

“What was that for?” he winced, looking over at the girl with frizzy blond hair behind him.

“Ignore him,” another boy slipped into the seat across from her and suddenly her booth was packed with people, “I’m Johnny.”

Johnny held out a hand and Nancy shook it, “This is my sister Beth,” he pointed at the blonde girl who waved, “Julie-Ann,” A girl with short pink hair grinned at her, “You’ve met the infinitely annoying Grady, and...” he turned around in his seat for a moment to look around, “Over there at the counter failing to hit on the waitresses is Xander,”

“Nancy Chambers,” she said awkwardly as the group settled in around her, transferring their drinks and fries to her table, “How did you know I was new?”

“I saw you moving boxes out of your car yesterday afternoon,” Johnny said, “What are you doing moving into that dump of a house?”

“It was my Nanna’s,” Nancy said shortly.

“That house gives me the creeps,” Beth said, “I cross the street when I have to walk past it.”

“Yeah that place is totally haunted,” Julie-Ann agreed, waving her fries around for emphasis, “Didn’t it used to belong to a murderer or something?”

“I heard some family was butchered there in the middle of the night,” Grady said wisely.

“Yeah we’ve all heard the stories,” Johnny laughed, “Murderers, cannibals, ghosts, devil worshipers, it’s all bullshit though.”

“I haven’t heard them!” Nancy said, too alarmed to notice her burger had arrived. No one wanted to hear they had moved into the local horror house.

“Where are your folks?” Julie-Ann asked, “Did they hear the stories before they moved in?”

“Or even look at it?” Grady added.

“Err,” Nancy paused, she didn’t really want to bring up her family history right before eating, “They actually... They stayed in California.”

“They shipped you off to Springwood alone?” Beth asked, “Jeez, what did you do to deserve that?”

The conversation turned to their town and Nancy took the chance to eat her food while listening to the people around her argue over whether Springwood was a cultural wasteland.

The constant banter eased her nerves and she slipped easily into the circle, feeling the loneliness of her move ebb away slowly, her mood rising more when talk turned to school and Beth and her brother offered to pick her up on Monday morning as they lived at the opposite end of Elm Street, and by the time lunch was finished and various phone numbers had been exchanged, she felt almost normal again.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

Nancy groaned and opened her eyes to her darkened bedroom, looking around to see what had woken her.

A rhythmic thumping was coming from somewhere downstairs.

“Better not be more snakes,” She groaned to herself, throwing her blankets off and making her way downstairs.

The air around her was sickly warm, causing her nightshirt to stick to her back and itch her skin and she wiped a strand of hair from her face as she reached the ground floor only for her feet to disappear into a swirling mist that crept over the carpet.

“What the fuck,” She whispered, following the river-like fog down the hall to the basement where it billowed out from below the closed door, illuminated by a flickering orange light.

“Oh shit, is my house on fire?” Nancy grabbed the faded bronze door handle. It was warm to the touch.

The stairs that lead to the basement seemed to go on forever, each wooden landing groaning beneath her bare feet and the constant changing light from below made her feel like the walls themselves were breathing as she walked, heaving in and out like the gaping throat of some horrid beast with flames in its belly.

Shadows darted around her as she reached the bottom rung and the surface below changed to metal catwalks, twisting and turning over the mass of pipes and steam.

The boiler room was massive.

Miles of piping created a labyrinth around her as she walked, sometimes doubling back on itself, other times running straight for miles and occasionally changing course halfway, it’s pathways closing and rearranging until Nancy was thoroughly lost.

A pipe suddenly twisted out of position and she screamed, ducking low to avoid the jet of boiling steam that poured from its end.

“What the hell is this place?” her voice echoed around her, “This has got to be a dream, right?”

Metal scraped loudly behind her and she spun around to find the path had changed again, this time leading to an opening at the center of the maze where a regular furnace sat dormant as though its sudden transfer from her basement to the boiler room of an infinite factory were an everyday occurrence.

Nancy approached the passive appliance warily, stretching her hand out to the grate with her heart in her throat.

She didn’t know why, but she had to open it. The small door beckoned to her, calling her to open it and set free whatever creature lurked inside.

The grate opened easily, swinging wide with the weight behind it and she jumped back with a scream as a mound of cloth tumbled from the mouth of the furnace in a cloud of white ash, bringing with it the angry coils and snapping jaws of three snakes.

“Holy shit!” Nancy backed up to the wall of pipes, standing on her toes to avoid the aggravated reptiles until they had slithered off into the cracks around her, the sound of their movements fading into the darkness.

When she was sure the coast was clear, Nancy crept forwards again and lowered herself to the pile of rags that were left behind.

Some people have the presence of mind to let sleeping dogs lie. Others will satisfy their curiosity to a certain point, calling it quits when enough was enough and following their instincts.

Any sane person could see that opening that grate was a bad choice. Anyone with an ounce of self-preservation would have known that unwrapping that cloth was a bad idea.

Nancy Chambers was not one of these people.

Its leather base was torn and dirty, left to molder in the depths of this hellish landscape until it seemed more akin to the skin of a dead dog, withered in the heat and pulled tight over starving bones.

Along the arches of the fingers, stretching far out beyond the tips, four razor sharp blades rested like the ridges of a silver dragon, their joints fitted meticulously at each bend to allow dexterity without loosing strength.

“A glove?” she backed up again, staring at it in abject horror. There was only one purpose this creation could serve.

A roaring sound filled her ears and she screamed again as the boiler room flooded with wails of metal and sparks of red and white, exploding from all corners and flooding the room with angry, painful life.

The blades twitched like the legs of a dying spider. Once. Twice. Then the glove rolled, arching up on it’s spindly tips.

“Nancy...”

Nancy spun around in circles trying to find the source of the voice. Laughter ripped through the room, bouncing off the walls until her ears felt like they were bleeding.

The glove was gone.

“Welcome home, Nancy.”


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

Nancy ran until her lungs burned and her feet ached from the hard concrete, her breath coming in desperate gasps and mixing with the sound of blood pumping in her ears, but whoever was chasing her seemed to be having no difficulty keeping up.

“Nancy!” The voice laughed and cajoled her, mocking her efforts to run, “What’s the matter, Nancy? Why don’t you come here and play?”

Nancy clutched at the stone wall and struggled to calm her breathing. There was no way she could keep up her marathon even if this was only a dream.

“Fuck off!” she shouted back, earning a fresh wave of laughter, “Leave me alone asshole!”

A shadow appeared at the far end on the hall and she turned again, preparing to run only to find herself facing a solid wall.

“How is this fair?!” she growled, slapping her palms against the stone.

“Found you...”

Nancy spun around and faced her hunter.

Silhouetted against the myriad of strobe-like colours that seemed to come from nowhere and everywhere, a tall figure dominated the hallway, the shape of the glove she had found clearly visible on his right hand.

“Who are you?” she panted, trying to see his face in the shadow.

“You don’t remember me?” The man tilted his head to the side and flicked a bladed finger, “That hurts.”

He stepped forward into the light, dirty black boots scraping against the ground as he spread his arms wide and Nancy bit off a horrified gasp.

Beneath the red and green sweater and battered fedora, the twisted raw skin strained over bared muscle and sinew painfully, the only defining features among the burns were a pair of glinting red eyes and a smile that gave all the comfort of a crocodile.

“Freddy’s back, baby!” he shouted, baring the knives on his hand and raising them over his head in preparation, “Time for a reunion!”

Nancy didn’t even have time to duck before the blades scraped against the wall inches from her head and a charred left hand slammed down on the other side, pinning her to the wall.

“Well look at you all grown up!” Freddy grinned, leaning in close enough for her to take in every inch of his disfigured face, “Thought you could forget about your old pal Freddy, did ya?”

“I-” Nancy gagged slightly as the smell of seared flesh filled her nose, “I don’t know who the fuck you are, but you need to get the fuck away from me,”

“Ha! Still got that attitude problem!” he laughed and then paused suddenly, a sly look coming over his features, “But... What else do still have?”

Nancy didn’t know what he was talking about and she didn’t plan on sticking around to find out. She lifted her knee sharply, ramming it into his groin.

A growling scream of pain filled the hallway and he doubled over, “You fucking bitch!”

Nancy slammed her fist into his lowered head before he could react further and bolted past him down the hall.

She didn’t make it far.

Freddy lunged out from behind a large pipe in front of her, swiping angrily at her with cruel laughter and she screamed, sliding to a halt and windmilling her arms desperately to stop from falling over.

“Scared?” he laughed, “Why don’t you fight back, Nancy? Or maybe... Call for backup!” he punctuated each sentence with small slashes in her direction.

“How the fuck am I supposed to do that?!” she shouted, backing up with each fresh attack he made, “You could at least give me a weapon and even the playing field, asshole!”

“Give yourself one!” he shouted back, “C’mon, show me you’ve still got what it takes to play with Freddy!”

Nancy ducked again and ran forward suddenly, slamming her shoulder into him and knocking him sideways, but her attack was expected this time and searing pain shot through her shoulder where four razor edges sliced into her skin.

“Ahh fuck! Get the hell off me!” Nancy screamed and struggled against the fabric of his dirty sweater, flailing wildly until her hands and face reached freedom and she opened her eyes to find herself sitting up in bed in a tangle of white sheets.

“What?” he she breathed hard, blinking several times and staring around.

The sun was just rising outside the window, lighting up her room through the overgrown vine that climbed the side of her house and she let out a shaky laugh.

“Just a nightmare... Just a stupid nightmare,” She laughed again and rolled out of bed and another wave of pain flared through her right shoulder, “What the-” she reached over and felt at the shredded remains of her nightshirt, wincing when her fingers found the hot gashes that still oozed fresh blood, staining her clothes and clean bed sheets a deep red.

“Oh come on! I just washed those!” she stormed off to the bathroom, tossing her ruined shirt away and spinning around to see the cuts in the mirror.

Four lines ran neatly from the top of her shoulder down to the base of her shoulder blade.

“Some fucking nightmare,”


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

School in Springwood was mostly the same for Nancy as it was in California.

She took all the same classes, excelled in all the same subjects that she loved and failed the others just the same as she had on the sunny coast.

Only two distinct differences caught her attention in the first week. The most glaring and painful was her instinctive shout of  “I’m home!”as she opened the front door was no longer answered by the usual chipper reply of Nanna Nancy in her study, and after three days of reflexive calling out only to be answered by silence, she no longer announced her arrival. 

The second (and much happier) change was her sudden acquisition of friends.

California had never held much for her in the way of friendship and Nancy had spent most of her time there alone listening to music or reading books while the more socially inclined teens pretended she didn’t exist.

Not that it bothered her, but she had to admit she was enjoying having people to talk to in her new home, and by the end of her first week she was laughing at Grady’s jokes and chatting happily with Beth over the phone in the evenings as though her place in the little group had been on reserve and she had finally come to join them.

The only dark patch in her week was her brain’s newly developed habit of terrifying her while she slept at night, causing her to get up earlier and go to bed later with far too much caffeine in her system only to be chased through various dark alleys and long hallways until she woke in a cold sweat.

She put the bad dreams down to stress and tried her best to push them from her mind, but the occasional twinge on her shoulder still bought back the echoing laughter of the man who gave chase every night, and when her mind wandered in class it would always come back to the same questions.

Who was he, and how did he know her?

Friday evening came with the heavy air of excitement and Nancy danced around her home after school singing along happily to The Cure while preparing for her first ever house party, which had eagerly been agreed upon when she suggested they come over for the night to check out her “Haunted House” for themselves.

She had just crammed the last bag of trash into her bin outside when a silver convertible pulled loudly into the curb blasting music loud enough to rival her own and three people climbed eagerly out to take in the sight of 1428 Elm Street.

“Woah-ho-ho! Xander cried, “Welcome to crack-house central!”

“Screw you,” Nancy replied, tossing an empty soda can from the recycling at him, “I worked hard to clean this place!”

“Should’ve just burned it down and claimed the insurance money,” Xander laughed, dodging the can, “I can’t believe your parents let you live alone in this death trap,”

“It’s not that bad on the inside,” she shrugged, coming over to greet Grady and Julie-Ann who were gathering their backpacks and other supplies from the car.

“At least it’s big,” Julie-Ann leaned back slightly to look up at the house, “Two stories plus an attic and a basement? You could make mint off that if you fixed it up right,”

“I know,” Nancy agreed, “I wonder why Nanna never bothered with it?”

“Old people are weird,” Grady said while hefting a carton of beer from the boot, “People get to a certain age and their brains turn funky... Either that or she knew it was haunted and was too scared to come back,” he added as an afterthought.

“My house isn’t haunted,” Nancy replied automatically, “I guess she just never found the time. She was always busy with her psychology work, writing books and papers and looking after me, so-”

“She looked after you?” Julie-Ann asked curiously.

“Oh, well... My parents both work full time,” Nancy lied quickly, “So I practically lived with Nanna Nancy growing up...”

“She sounds pretty cool,” Julie-Ann gave her hand a small squeeze before changing the subject, “Hey where are Beth and Johnny?”

“Yeah they live like two minutes away, how the hell did we beat them?” Xander added.

“Whatever, I’m not waiting around outside for them, let’s get this ghost tour on the road!” Grady marched up the path dodging the thick weeds to the front door.

“Not that bad on the inside, huh?” Xander scoffed, looking around at the graffiti and flaking paint when they stepped inside.

“Yeah it’s still pretty bad though,” Nancy laughed, leading everyone into the kitchen where they proceeded to fill her abysmally empty fridge.

“So you haven’t seen anything creepy since you moved in?” Grady asked, cracking a beer and handing it to her.

“I’ve seen some rats and there was a snake in the cupboard down there,” she pointed below the sink and Julie-Ann promptly scampered away from it, “But that’s about it.”

“I still think I’m going to have nightmares sleeping here, I fucking hate snakes,” Julie-Ann said.

“Don’t worry, baby,” Grady replied, wrapping his arms around her, “I’ll just have to keep you company all night!”

A small tussle ensued and Nancy watched in amusement as Julie-Ann slapped her boyfriend away.

“So can anybody actually tell my why this place scares people so much?” she asked, “Or is it just the town scapegoat for urban legends?”

“I can answer that!” A shout came from the front room and Nancy felt her heart flutter a little as Johnny walked into the room throwing an armful of junk food onto the counter, followed by Beth.

“I asked my parents about it and they clammed up tight,” he said, gesturing them to follow and leading them upstairs, “So I went and did some digging at the library and found a bunch of old newspaper articles.”

“Wait, something actually did happen here?” Nancy asked, her concern rising when Johnny lead them all into her current bedroom.

“A few things happened actually,” he replied, “And it all started with a serial killer.”

Everyone in the room fell silent and stared at him to continue.

“Not just any serial killer either,” Johnny said dramatically, slipping into the role of storyteller, “A child killer named Krueger lived here in the seventies. He murdered a dozen or so kids in the neighborhood by taking them to some factory where he worked and cutting them to pieces!”

The small crowd gasped obediently.

“He was caught eventually by the cops, but apparently there was something wrong with the paper work, someone signed it in the wrong place or whatever and he was set free again.”

“Well that’s fucking lovely,” Grady said sarcastically, falling silent again when Johnny held his hand up.

“That’s exactly how the parents of Springwood felt,” he continued, “So they tracked him down and killed him themselves.”

Xander gave a snort of laughter, “All’s well that ends well,”

“No way, that’s when things start to get weird,” Johnny said, “because it was around ten years later when the kids of the vigilant mob started getting murdered again!”

“Oh fuck off,” Julie-Ann scoffed, “You telling me he came back from the dead to keep killing or some shit?”

“Hey I’m just going off what the interviews said,” Johnny said defensively, “Apparently one of the families moved into this exact house, and right here-” he pointed to the window, “Their daughter watched her boyfriend get butchered in the house across the street and I read a copy of the police statement that said she reported seeing a guy with knives for fingers stab him to death!”

“Finger-knives?” Grady laughed, but Nancy had gone cold and interrupted him quickly.

“What else did it say?” she asked.

“Well,” Johnny said, “I can’t tell you where the truth ends and rumor takes over, but there were several reports that mentioned the finger-knives, including the next kid that moved in here after the first girl went mad. He murdered his own girlfriend and tried to tell people his dreams made him do it. Kept saying Freddy was taking over his body-”

Nancy blanched at the name, “Did you say Freddy? His name was Freddy Krueger?”

“Yeah,” Johnny nodded, “He’s sort of a bogeyman I guess. The official reports end there but other stories always circle back to him. I think he was the go-to topic when the newspapers had a slow day or something-”

“H-how did they kill him?” Nancy asked, almost dreading the answer, “The parents. How did they kill him the first time?”

Johnny paused for a moment taking in her serious expression and shaking hands before answering.

“They burned him alive.”


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six

Nancy sat on the front porch with her beer in one hand and a slowly smouldering cigarette in the other while she listened to the music and laughter coming from inside.

Grady had bought along his x-box and Beth had ordered pizza for them all, but Nancy didn ’t feel much like playing or eating. 

All the fun seemed to have drained out of her weekend the moment Johnny had finished his story.

A child serial killer who came back from the dead to kill people in their dreams? There was no way she could believe that.

But what about the name? Why were there so many similarities between Johnny’s story and her nightmares?

“Hey, are you ok?” Nancy looked up from her thoughts to see Johnny slip out the front door and sit down next to her, causing her heart to flutter slightly again. It was another new habit her body had picked up recently whenever he walked in the room.

“I’m fine,” Nancy smiled, just a little tired is all,”

“I’m sorry,” he said, lighting up a smoke, “I shouldn’t have told you that stupid story, I didn’t really think it through,”

“No no it was fine, I’m glad you told me, it was...interesting,” she laughed awkwardly.

“Yeah I actually thought it was pretty neat, I didn’t think anything interesting ever happened in this town. But I guess it’s a bit different if you’re actually living in the house,” he shrugged, “Just remember, it’s only a story.”

“Yeah... Just a story,” cold laughter echoed in the back of her mind and she shook it in annoyance.

“And if you do get scared sleeping here all by yourself,” he said, leaning a little closer, “You can always come down the street to my house,”

“How generous of you!” Nancy laughed, feeling her cheeks redden slightly, “Are you going to protect me from the bogeyman?”

Johnny smiled and her heart skipped a beat. He was close enough now for her to smell the smoke on his breath.

“Hey! What the fuck are you guys doing out here?” Xander shouted suddenly from the doorway.

Nancy and Johnny pulled apart like they had been electrocuted and she sighed as he got up and started arguing with the taller boy about privacy, following them both back into the house and laughing at the irony when she spotted Grady and Julie-Ann curled up together at the top of the staircase locked onto each others mouths.

“Get a room!” She shouted up to them as she walked past, hearing a fit of laughter from the stairs followed by footsteps, “Hey! Not my room assholes!” she called back again, “Use the guest room at the end of the hall!”

“Don’t tell them that,” Beth laughed when she joined her in the lounge room, “We wont see them till Monday!”

“Too late now,” she replied, “I guess you three get to fight over the sofa,”

Nancy finally climbed into bed a few hours later exhausted but happy after a therapeutic course of beer, pizza and video games.

Beth had won the fight over the sofa with the underhanded tactic of falling asleep on it before anyone could notice, leaving the boys to share the air-filled mattress Nancy had pulled from the attic.

It had been a fun night.

Her head swirled when she hit the pillow and she lay still until the dizziness passed, and in the unnoticeable way that sleep has, she was instantly taken back to her moment on the front step with Johnny.

“Are you going to protect me from the bogeyman?” she was asking again.

Johnny was laughing, his smile making her feel flushed and excited and she leaned forward to meet him.

He leaned close. The smell of smoke on his breath driving her wild.

“I am the bogeyman!” he growled suddenly, closing the distance and capturing her lips with his own.

At first he was soft. Gentle. Moving slowly with her rhythm and savoring their touch as much as she was.

The taste of smoke became stronger. It filled her mouth and nostrils and Nancy tried to pull away only to find a strong hand pressed to the back of her head.

“Mmff!” She tried to say his name, but the moment her mouth opened he deepened the kiss and Nancy gasped at the sudden intrusion of his tongue, so much larger and stronger than she expected yet decidedly intoxicating, but the smell of smoke was becoming intolerable and she put her hands to his chest to push him back only to find his leather jacket had been replaced by something woolen and her eyes snapped open.

Her dream boy had been swapped out for a nightmare.

“Get the fuck off me!” she screamed and pushed hard, feeling the edges of his knives dig into the back of her head where his hand rested as he laughed at her.

“Aww, what’s the matter Nancy?” he mocked, “Don’t like tongue?”

Nancy kicked him hard in the shins and dragged herself to the door, pulling herself up. Freddy rose with her.

“Isn’t this the part where you run away?” he asked, flicking his gloved hand out and taking a step towards her.

“Krueger,” she said softly, causing him to pause, “That’s your name, right? Freddy Krueger?”

“In the flesh, babe!” he grinned.

“The same Freddy Krueger that used to live here?” she pointed at the house behind them.

“Used to live here?” he replied, eyes flashing, “I never left!”

“Is that why you want to kill me?” she pressed, digging her nails into her palms to resist the urge to run like hell like she had for the past week, “I moved in here and- and woke you up, or something?”

His red eyes narrowed and a single sharp blade came to rest on his jaw thoughtfully, “And here I thought you’d finally remembered,” he chuckled.

“Remembered what?” Nancy practically shouted, “Seriously! I think I’d remember meeting a-” Nancy cast around wildly for a word, “A dream demon that murders children! Why are you being so damn cryptic about this shit? If there’s something you want to tell me just fucking say it.”

“That’s disappointing,” he shook his head, “It’s no fun if you don’t play along. I knew another Nancy like you once. She thought she could hide from her past too. Caught up to her in the end though!” He gave a vicious laugh and charged towards her.

Nancy grabbed the door handle and pushed desperately, falling backwards into the house only to find herself alone in the entrance.

“Nancy...” panic seized her and she scrambled to her feet, following the voice into her lounge room.

Beth lay curled on the sofa just as she had before Nancy went to bed. The sprawled forms of Xander and Johnny were visible on the floor below her, and between them, pointing slowly to each sleeping form, Freddy stood with a grin, singing softy.

“Eeny, meeny, miny, moe...” he counted with glee, raising a blade to each head in turn, “One of them has got to go...”

“Get away from them!” Nancy shouted, sprinting towards him.

The song ended and Freddy suddenly stood poised above Beth, his glove aimed at her throat.

“Beth!” she screamed, “Wake up! Get out of the house! Get out-”

Beth’s eyes snapped open just as a razor touched her skin and she screamed, clambering off the sofa and running out the front door without a single backwards glance.

Nancy breathed a sigh of relief, but she tensed up again at the look on her antagonists face.

Freddy looked like a kid who’s christmas had came early.

“Well done, Nancy,”


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

“So let me get this straight,” Beth said softly, sipping her coffee while Nancy paced frantically.

After a confused tussle in which Nancy had shaken Beth awake they had moved to an old bench in the backyard to talk without waking the rest of the house.

“The nightmare I had was the same nightmare you’ve been stuck in,” She paused and Nancy nodded, “And the guy with the murder glove is actually stalking your dreams and trying to kill you?”

“He’s not-... I don’t know what he wants from me,” Nancy said, “But I think last night he might have gotten it,”

“The kiss?” Beth wrinkled her nose in disgust.

“NO!” Nancy snapped while Beth snorted into her coffee, “I think I did something when I called out to you in my dream. I think... I think I pulled you in or combined our dreams or something. Oh fuck Beth I’m so sorry!”

Nancy collapsed into the seat next to Beth and hung her head.

“I gave him access to your dreams. He’ll be coming after you next.”

“I think you need to stop listening to my brothers stupid stories,” Beth said, “You’re clearly stressed.”

“You don’t believe me?” Nancy looked up at her, “What about the dream, you saw him when I called your name!”

Beth shrugged, “I dunno Nance, It just seems so...”

“And what about this?” she struggled out of her robe to show the slowly healing cuts on her shoulder, “I knew there was no way I did that to myself!”

Beth hesitated, unable to deny the small amount of physical evidence.

“Look just promise me,” Nancy said to her, grabbing her hand, “Promise me you’ll be careful when you go to sleep from now on.”

“Should we warn the others?” she asked, giving in for the moment and nodding.

Nancy shook her head, “I don’t want this to spread.”

“But what happens next time you go to sleep? What if you accidentally call out to someone again?”

Nancy paused for a moment, her eyes shifting to the coffee in her mug, its steam rising in soft swirls in the early morning light.

“I don’t know,” she sighed, picking up the coffee and taking a painful gulp, “So I guess for now I just won’t sleep.”

Four days of no sleep passed before Nancy felt herself reaching her limit. True, nothing had happened to Beth since Friday night, but she still couldn’t be sure that her theory wasn’t true, and so she spent her time constantly calling or messaging Beth for any sign of nightmares or unexplained injuries until her friend finally put her foot down.

“You need to sleep!” Beth practically shouted through the receiver after Nancy had once again called just before bed to warn her to be careful, “You’re loosing it babe! If you keep this up they’re going to put you in a padded room at Westin Hills!”

Nancy looked at herself in the mirror on the back of her bedroom door. Her eyes were painfully red and bruised, peering back at her through a mess of untended black hair. She probably wouldn’t look out of place at the Asylum.

“-should call your parents, I don’t think that house is good for you,” Beth was saying, and Nancy clutched the phone tightly.

“No! I- I don’t want to call them,” she said, her words slurring with exhaustion, “I’ll be fine.”

“Get some sleep, please. For my sake as much as yours. I’ll see you at school tomorrow.”

The line went dead before Nancy could reply, leaving her to sit alone on her bed and stare helplessly at the phone.

“Maybe she’s right,” Nancy whispered to herself, “Nothings happened to her yet...maybe it was all just some long ass nightmare.”

Disoriented and sore, she lay down finally on her bed still hesitant to close her eyes.

“Just a short nap...”

The room changed and twisted, sinking and rising with each breath she took until it faded away all together and she was floating in a sea of comforting darkness.

She was walking along Elm street in the late afternoon, gaps of sunlight filtering through the tall Elm trees that arched up on either side of the road creating a soft kaleidoscope of gold and green.

Around her she could see children playing and laughing, games of jump-rope and hopscotch in full swing in the calm afternoon.

She walked along the center of the road following behind a small girl in a pink dress who sang a short rhyme as she skipped over her rope and tried to listen to the familiar tune, but every time she got close the girl skittered forward faster than a dragonfly, reappearing further and further down the street.

Nancy turned and found herself outside Beth and Johnny’s house at the very edge of Elm street, a small brick building that looked slightly newer than its neighbors.

“Beth?” there was something important about Beth’s house. Something she was supposed to do.

What was it?

_One, Two, Freddy’s coming for you..._

The little girl had stopped on the footpath nearby, her song repeating loudly as she jumped.

_Three, Four, Better lock your door,_

_Five, Six, Grab your crucifix..._

“Wait, I know this...” Nancy said, walking closer to her. This time she didn’t blink away but held her stare as she sang, her gold curls bouncing up and down around her smiling face.

_Seven, Eight, Gonna stay up late_

She stopped, still staring at the Nancy.

“How does it end?” Nancy asked, the warmth of the sunlight rapidly disappearing around her.

A storm appeared in the distance.

“You already know,” The girl shrugged, winding up her jump-rope, “You just don’t want to say it.”

Nancy frowned at the girl. Up close her dress was not the crisp pink that it had been before. It was matted and dirty, torn at the knees. One of the ribbons winding around her pig-tails had fallen out.

“Aren’t you going to say it?” she asked, her eyes pleading up at Nancy. Blood began to spread over her ragged dress, dripping to the ground.

“No,” She snapped at the girl, watching in disgust as the skin fell from her bones and she collapsed to the ground, flaking away to dust.

“NANCY?!”

Nancy turned away from the pile of dust and looked over at Beth’s house. The door was open, blowing back and forth in the strong wind that suddenly whipped through the trees and shook the windows.

Nancy bolted inside calling out Beth’s name.

“Help! Help me someone plea-AHHH!”

A horribly familiar laugh overlapped the pained scream and Nancy dashed towards it, flinging open the door to Beth’s bedroom.

Beth was curled defensively at the head of the bed, pressing into the wall and sobbing hysterically while holding her hand to her leg to stop the flow of dark red that spread over the sheets.

“Beth!” Nancy scrambled over to her, “Are you ok? What happened to your leg?”

Beth gave another heaving sob and looked up at her.

“You were right,” she gasped.

Someone clapped slowly from behind her and Nancy swung around, glaring at the figure that appeared from behind the bedroom door, kicking it shut and blocking their escape.

“Congratulations,” Freddy laughed, “You’ve opened the gate!”


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight

The storm raged outside sending icy sheets of rain to crash against the window, darkening everything save for the flashes of colorful lightning that occasionally crawled across the sky.

Nancy sat on the bed with her arms flung wide, shielding a sobbing Beth behind her and glaring daggers at the dream demon that prowled slowly back and forth around the bedroom, clearly enjoying himself.

“Just like old times,” he purred, clicking his blades as he walked, “You tag ‘em and I bag ‘em! I am so glad you could join us tonight, Nancy! It would be a shame to miss your own revival!”

“Old-old times? Wh-what is he saying? What is he talking about, Nancy?” Beth whimpered from behind her.

“I don’t know, he’s been raving on with this shit since the first night I dreamed him up,” Nancy spat, “It’s getting pretty annoying,”

Freddy gave her a deadpan look, pausing in his stride.

“You’re still a stubborn little bitch,” he said, rolling his eyes, “Maybe you’ll loosen up without this whore riding your back!”

Beth screamed behind her and Nancy turned to see her rising up the wall, clawing wildly at the thin, bead studded ropes that hung from the base of a dream-catcher above them as they wrapped around her neck and arms.

“Hey! Stop that, knock it off!” Nancy screamed, standing up and trying to pull at the ropes while Freddy laughed, “Stop you’ve made your point let her go! Beth wake up! WAKE UP!”

The ropes pulled tighter, digging into her flesh until Nancy could no longer fit her fingers between her neck and the attacking strings, leaving Beth to gasp for breath as they slowly closed her windpipe.

She dug her nails in desperately, clawing at them and snapping the thin gold chain that Beth wore around her neck in the process.

“Stop! Fucking stop it!” Nancy turned from her struggling friend and launched herself off the bed at Freddy, missing by a wide margin and tumbling onto the fluffy blue rug.

“No need to get jealous!” he laughed, grabbing her roughly by the arm before she could stand and throwing her onto the bed, “You gotta learn how to share, Nancy,”

“Just kill me! Kill me instead!” she screamed. Beth’s movements were slowing as her face turned a sickening purple, swelling around her bindings.

“Why would I do that?” Freddy asked, grabbing her wrists and pushing her down onto the bed, “You’re far to much fun, Nance. Besides-” his eyes flicked up to the limp body above them, “I need your help. You bought me one, babe, but Freddy’s gonna need a whole lot more before this town remembers to be afraid!”

“Remembers to- wait, more? You seriously expect me to help you?” Nancy tried to look up at Beth, but by now she was pinned flat on her back, the crushing weight of her attacker immobilizing her and blocking her vision with a grinning face.

“Ohh yes,” he practically hissed, his smokey breath washing over her face, “We’re gonna need a few more cracks in the dam before it can... Burst!”

Nancy growled as he thrust his hips against her on the last word, “You’re vile,”

“Flattery will get you everywhere,” he replied, “But for now I think it’s time you took a back seat, Freddy’s got some work to do and you are far too distracting.”

He pushed hard on her wrists, releasing his grip and laughing as Nancy felt herself sink through the mattress, her last glimpse of Beth tangled above them quickly becoming obscured by darkness.

“BETH!” she sat up screaming in her bed.

In a flash she was across the room and snatching up her phone where it had fallen on the floor, dialing her friends number.

“Let it be a nightmare, just a regular old nightmare,” she said as the phone rang on and on, “Please don’t let it be real please Beth just pick up the phone pick up wake up-”

“Hey you’ve reached Beth Detlan, I can’t come to the phone right now-”

“FUCK!” Beth threw her phone at the wall before running forward and picking it up again, entering a new number.

“H-hullo?” A Sleep muddled voice answered after five rings.

“Johnny!” Nancy could have cried with relief, “Can you put Beth on? I need to talk to her!”

“Wha- Nancy?” he mumbled, “What time is it?”

“Go get Beth!”

“It’s like four in the morning, Nancy. Can’t this wait till tomorrow?”

Nancy clenched her fists and tried not to shout, “No, it can’t! I need you to go wake her up, now!”

There was a rustling sound followed by a groan, then footsteps as Johnny stumbled up the hallway to his sisters room while Nancy waited with bated breath.

“You guys been talking on the phone an awful lot lately,” he said casually, “What’s the big secret?”

Nancy didn’t answer. She knew he would be at her door by now and she heard a knock followed by Johnny calling out Beth’s name softly.

What followed was the sound of the phone being dropped and screams, coupled with thundering footsteps and Nancy fell to the floor while she listened, tears running down her face.

The last thing she heard was someone shouting for 911 before her call was ended.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter Nine

A funeral was held for Beth Detlan A week later in the Springwood Cemetery. Police had ruled her cause of death as strangulation and stated they were not treating it as suspicious, but the fact that they couldn ’t answer how a young girl had managed to tangle herself in strings several feet above the mattress while sleeping, nor how she had acquired the deep wounds in her leg left a bitter taste in the mouth of her friends and family, none more than her brother. 

The rest of the group were subdued in their actions for the next few days, keeping to themselves in school and meeting at the Crave Inn only to sit quietly while the jukebox filled the silence. Even Grady, who normally never stopped talking was hard pressed to say more than a few words.

Johnny had changed entirely since the night Nancy had called him and inadvertently lead him to find the corpse of his sister. The color was gone from his face and his normally well styled hair hung limp over eyes that looked almost as bad as Nancy’s.

No one was sleeping well.

“Hey, can I talk to you?” Johnny said softly to Nancy as they climbed into his car, watching The other three pull out of the parking lot of the diner in Xander’s car and head home.

Nancy tensed a little in her seat but nodded. Her panicked phone call had been all but forgotten in the confusion and she had brushed off any initial questions with her pathetic excuse of having a nightmare, but the proof of what had happened still lay on her desk in the form of a thin gold necklace.

“I wanted to ask you a favor,” Johnny said as he drove, his eyes locked to the road, “I was wondering if you would mind me staying at your house for a bit?”

Nancy was taken aback, “I-Sure, I don’t mind,”

Johnny breathed a small sigh of relief, “Thanks, I just can’t stay at home at the moment. Mom and Dad are acting real crazy and... And I can’t stand the silence there,”

“Yeah I get it,” Nancy nodded, knowing that silence well.

Johnny took less than five minutes to pick up his things from his house before driving them back to her own and they sat quietly on the sofa while the television droned on in the background.

Nancy fidgeted with the sleeve of her jacket while Johnny stared idly at the game show in front of them, lost in his own thoughts, unaware that she was battling with the idea of filling him in on the full story of his sisters death and showing him the necklace upstairs.

“Johnny I-” she began, but he turned to her quickly, his eyes looking worn and slightly crazed.

“I wanna thank you, Nance,” he said, the shadow of a smile on his face, “You’ve been a really good friend, and I know Beth...I know she loved you. Gods, I’ve never seen her talk to someone for so long on the phone before, she was always such a dreamer. She never really socialized all that much before you came,”

Nancy shrugged, “You guys have known me less than a month... I feel more like an intruder than a friend at the moment,”

“Don’t say that,” he replied, “I know you feel bad about what happened, but the only thing I regret is your nightmare not waking you sooner... That call...”

Nancy looked at him sadly, feeling more and more like a curse on Springwood.

“You-...You’re a good friend too,” she said lamely, turning away.

A hand grasped her cheek softly and turned her head and she froze as his lips pressed to her own, staying briefly before pulling away.

“Get some sleep, Nancy,” he said, pressing his forehead to her own, “You look like hell,”

Nancy gave an unladylike snort and left him on the sofa, turning back briefly to let him know he could take the spare bedroom when he was ready to sleep.

Alone in her room, Nancy toyed with the necklace she had pulled from her dreams, thinking things through and getting no further in her ideas than she had been three days ago.

Krueger hadn’t shown his face since murdering Beth, but she knew it was only a matter of time before he tried to get her to open up a path to a new victim, and she had no intention of helping him murder more people, even if it was accidental.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok so I mayyyybe went on a musical binge and I mayyybe made The Divinyls the official band for this crackfic. Thought I'd pause here and warn people for the incoming wave of nonsense  
> ***NOW EDITED TO INCLUDE THE OTHER HALF OF THE CHAPTER THAT SOMEHOW DIDN'T JOIN UP WITH THE REST OF THE UPLOAD, LEAVING A VERY CONFUSING GAP BETWEEN 10 AND 11***

Chapter Ten

Nancy sat in the empty dining room of the Crave Inn, listening to the sorrowful tones of Cash that flowed from the jukebox in the darkened room.

“Well ain’t this place a drag,” Nancy looked up from the tiled ground to find herself no longer alone.

“What do you want?” she spat under her breath, turning away from the grotesque demon that grinned at her from across the booth.

“Just the pleasure of your company,” he said slyly, leaning back and draping an arm over the leather chair.

“You killed Beth,” she said shortly, crossing her arms, “Why?”

“I had to start somewhere,” he shrugged, giving a small laugh, “She was a bit of a bore though, you should pick someone better next time,” he pointed burned finger at her.

“There won’t be a next time,” she replied.

“You can’t stay awake forever,” he said, leaning over the table, “And when you sleep, I’ll be- what the fuck are you doing?”

“Pinching myself to wake up,” she said absently, twisting the skin on her arm harder between her nails.

“That doesn’t fucking work, knock it off!” he snapped, reaching out to grab her wrist and missing when Nancy jumped from the chair and walked over to the other side of the room, still pinching and clawing herself.

“Satisfied?” he asked, rolling his eyes at her when she finally gave up and slumped against the counter in defeat.

“No,” she snapped, kicking a stool in annoyance, “You killed one of the first friends I ever made.”

Krueger gave a snort of dismissal, “Self pity doesn’t suit you, babe, you’ll get over it.”

“I’ll get over it when I work out how to kill you and send you back to whatever hell you’re supposed to be burning- AHH!” her snarky comment when she blinked and found her companion was no longer lounging in the booth, instead leaning on the counter next to her.

“Nancy, Nancy, Nancy...” he chided, raising his gloved hand and moving a piece of hair from her face, “You know what your problem is?”

“The revenant of a serial killer is using my dreams to kill my friends?”

“You’ve forgotten how to have fun!” he said with a grin, ignoring her comment.

“Oh I’m sorry!” she replied, her words dripping with sarcasm, “I guess I was to distracted by the monster chasing me every night!”

Freddy leaned in close, wrapping an arm around her waist, “That’s the best part,” he whispered.

Nancy screamed again when her feet left the ground and she was spun around in the air, landing on her feet in front of the jukebox.

Freddy swooped in next to her, taking one of her hands and slipping the other back around her waist.

“What the hell are you doing?” she asked, trying to step away only to find her other hand had become stuck to his shoulder.

The jukebox finished its song and let out a whir as the mechanism inside swapped discs, beginning a more upbeat tune.

“Changing the mood,” Freddy grinned, pulling her flush against him.

_Lover lover why do you push?_

_Why do you push, why do you push?_

_Baby, baby, did you forget about me?_

“Ok, no!” Nancy shook her head, recognizing the lyrics, “I am not doing this!”

“Come on, Nancy, you know you love this song!” Freddy laughed, twirling her suddenly across the checkered floor of the diner in the dim light of the jukebox.

_I’ve been standing in the back of your life,_

_Back row center, just above the ice,_

_Please don’t ask me how I’ve been getting off_

Nancy couldn’t help but let out an embarrassed laugh as he lead her around the room, never loosing an inch of space between them.

“What kind of dream demon knows how to dance so well?” she asked, shaking her head when he dipped her slightly in his arms.

“Just your one,” he winked, making her roll her eyes.

_It’s a fine line between pleasure and pain,_

_You’ve done it once, you can do it again_

_Whatever you’ve done, don’t try to explain_

_It’s a fine, fine line..._

Nancy wasn’t sure when it happened, but at some point between the lines of her favorite song and the surprisingly confident dance she was bullied in to, she had stopped trying to get free, leaving herself to follow the moves of her partner.

She was actually enjoying herself.

“That’s more like it,” He whispered in her ear, “I do love to see some pleasure mixed in with the pain,”

“You are so lame,” Nancy snorted.

_It’s all the same..._

The song came to a close and they stopped spinning, and Nancy suddenly became aware that the slightly less lethal hand that had rested on her hip had shifted lower, tracing circles over the back of her thigh.

“Are you going to let me go yet?” she said nervously, her face flushed from dancing.

Freddy cocked his head in thought, the movements of his left hand become less subtle.

She didn’t know if it was the adrenaline pumping through her veins or some dreamscape effect that clouded her thoughts, but when he closed the small gap between them, she didn’t pull away, and the rush of smokey heat that came with his lips burned from her mouth down to her core, drawing out a small whimper.

The involuntary sound spurred him on and she felt his burned mouth twist into a smile against her own, answering her with a deep growl of approval.

Nancy felt like she was floating and falling simultaneously, her body pulsed with waves of heat and she forgot where she was or why she had ever wanted to leave, only knowing that the hand on her thigh and the tongue that stroked her own were both too much and not nearly enough.

“I knew you’d warm up to me eventually,” a gravelly voice laughed when they broke apart. 

“Wh-what?” Nancy looked around, thoroughly flustered, “Wait, what did you do to me?”

“Nothing you didn’t already want,” He bit her lip softly and Nancy jumped when a warm hand slipped under her nightgown and stroked her aching core through the damp fabric of her panties, “And you _really_ fucking want this!”

“No...” she tried to focus, to think of her friend screaming and crying at the mercy of the monster that was now nipping at her neck while stroking her.

“Yesss,” he hissed, wrapping her tightly in his grip, “You want me to fuck you, Nancy, you want me to throw you over a table right now and stuff you full of my cock until you can’t walk, You can’t fucking lie to me whore-”

“NO!” Nancy pushed hard, ignoring her body’s protests at the loss of contact, and to both their surprise a flash of white light split the air between them, sending them flying to opposite ends of the room. 

Nancy slammed hard into the door of the Crave Inn, knocking the ‘Sorry We’re Closed!” sign to the floor.

A Storm of angry curses came from the other side of the dining room and she looked up to see Krueger crawling from a stack of shattered tables and chairs.

“Oh shit!” Nancy rose and grabbed the door, pulling hard on the handle, but it wouldn’t budge. 

“Nancy...” she turned around to see him kick the last of the chairs aside, glove twitching. He was fucking pissed. 

“Shit, shit, shit!” she slammed her shoulder into the door, “Stay away from me!”

“You can’t leave yet, Nancy,” he laughed, but the humor was almost entirely gone from his voice, “We’re not finished!”

“Oh yes we fucking are!” she shouted back hysterically, “You are way to fucking fresh, asshole!”

The door flung open with a final desperate push and Nancy dashed through it just as the talon-like razors of the glove sliced over her back and she screamed, first from the pain and then from absolute horror when her feet failed to find solid ground.

Down she fell, her hair whipping around her face and blinding her as she snatched uselessly at thin air.

Above her, a fresh wave of laughter echoed, following her down.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter Eleven

When Alice fell down the rabbit hole she had made it seem easy. Talking aloud to herself with mild curiosity before landing gracefully in wonderland.

When Nancy fell she looked like a cat that had misjudged its leap, clawing and twisting stupidly until she landed in a heap.

“Oh fuck me,” she breathed, looking around. She was sitting shotgun in Xander’s convertible, flying down an empty highway under the hot sun of what looked like Nevada with nothing but sprawling blue sky and empty desert for miles. 

Nancy turned with a grimace to her left and cursed again.

“Nancy?” Xander seemed only mildly surprised by the arrival of his passenger, “When did you get here?”

“Dammit!” Nancy turned around wildly in her seat to see in anyone else had followed her descent, “Xander you gotta wake up, I fucked up again!”

“Wake up?” Xander frowned behind his dark sunglasses, “Oh... This is a dream?”

“It’s about to become a fucking nightmare if you don’t wake up right now,” Nancy replied while struggling with her hair in the wind. 

“Damn, I was really looking forward to hitting the Vegas strip,” Xander muttered, “So why did I dream you fell out of the sky? Not to be rude or anything but you're not exactly my usual dream girl, ya know?”

“You didn't dream me, I came here myself, but I didn't mean to, and now you need to wake up or-”

Nancy was cut short by the sound of a horn blasting through the air and she turned to look in the distance behind them to see a heavy cloud of red dust rapidly approaching.

A monstrous semi-truck painted in garish green and red roared down the highway behind them, it's gleaming grille shaped to mimic the gnashing jaws of some prehistoric predator.

The horn sounded again and Nancy heard above it the laughter of its manic driver.

“Xander please,” she turned to him, “Wake up now!”

“Err...how?” he asked, still watching the behemoth truck.

Nancy answered by slapping him hard across the face.

Xander's sunglasses flew from his face and disappeared out the side of the car as it swerved violently.

“Ouch!” Xander looked affronted, holding his cheek.

“Wow, you're a heavy sleeper,” Nancy sighed, slumping back in her chair in defeat.

“Probably cos I smoked couple bowls,” he shrugged, “I always helps me sleep,”

Nancy resisted the urge to wring his neck.

The horn blasted again and they both shouted when something slammed into the back of the car, shaking it violently while Xander clung to the wheel.

“Fuck off!” Nancy shouted back at the semi. She caught a glimpse of Freddy behind the wheel, blades glinting as he waved at her.

“Go around, Asshole!” Xander waved his arm to indicate the empty side of the road and Nancy shook her head. He still wasn't getting it.

“How fast can this car go?” she asked, “Maybe we can outrun him until you wake up.”

Nancy grabbed onto the seat when Xander slammed his foot down on the gas, sending the small red arrow on the dash past its limit.

“Ha ha holy shit!” he shouted, “dream cars rule!”

“Try to focus on waking up!” she shouted back, straining to be heard over the wind.

Their break for freedom almost seemed to work. The semi fell back and disappeared into the dust cloud its tires had kicked up, and Nancy was sure she heard a growl of frustration from somewhere behind them, but her joy was short lived when the dust storm expanded rapidly, enveloping them in windblown sand and dirt that ripped painfully at their skin in the high speeds.

“Put the roof up!” Nancy managed to shout through the blinding dust.

“It doesn't have one!” Xander's reply came from somewhere to her left, ending in another scream when something heavy rammed the side of their car.

All Nancy could do between the blinding sand and the unstoppable onslaught of the truck next to them was curl down as far as she could in her seat and hope that the fear would be enough to wake Xander and end the high speed chase. The skin on her hands was torn and bleeding from covering her face and she tensed herself against the pain, hoping she didn't wake before she could stop this nightmare.

The dust storm left as quickly as it appeared and they burst through to clean air and sunlight, coughing manically.

“W-what the hell was that?” Xander asked.

Nancy spat a heap of sand from her mouth and wiped her face again, “He's trying to scare us,” she managed to say before falling into another coughing fit.

“Are you ok?” he asked, and Nancy felt Xander's arm wrap over her shoulder and pat her back soothingly, “Should I pull over or something?”

“We can't stop here!” A third voice joined in, “This is bat country!”

Nancy pulled her head from between her knees and screamed. Their unwanted passenger laughing between them.

“What the fuck! What the fuck!” Xander shouted repeatedly from the drivers seat, staring wide-eyed at the burned man.

“Not using a seat-belt in a moving vehicle is a crime, Nancy!” he laughed, leaning close and jamming the strap into place, pinning her to the chair, “Not to mention dangerous, someone could loose their life!”

“Leave him alone!” she screamed, struggling to get free of the seat-belt while Freddy stood on the chair, turning to face a still screaming Xander.

“Sorry kid,” he grinned, flicking out his blades, “This joy ride's over!”

“NO!”

Nancy watched in horror as the dream demon plunged all four blades into Xander's chest, hoisting him out of the drivers seat as though he weighed nothing.

Xander clutched at the glove embedded in him weakly, blood beginning to bubble from his mouth and muffle his cries.

“Let him go!” Nancy screamed, slamming her fists into his leg uselessly while the seat-belt wrapped tighter around her, “Let him go!”

Freddy cocked his head to look over at her, “If you say so!”

Xander's body slipped free of the blades and disappeared over the side of the car with a sickening thump, reappearing momentarily in the rear view mirror to roll limply a few times before being left behind entirely by the still speeding convertible.

Freddy slumped down into the bloody drivers seat, taking the wheel in his left hand and throwing his right over the back of the chairs to rest on her shoulder with a bark or laughter.

Nancy stared blankly at the open desert ahead of them until it faded out, changing and forming into the neat suburban roads of Springwood at night.

Xander's dream was gone. She had failed.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok so fair warning I haven't been a teen for like ten years now so I'm super out of the loop on how high school works so everyone here now officially speaks early 2000's lingo and acts like a dropkick from a low income aussie school xD

Chapter Twelve

The death of Xander Clementine caused an uproar among the people of Springwood.

Beth Detlan's death may have been deemed accidental, but there was no explaining away the half-gutted corpse that Xander's father had came home to after finishing the late shift, and police were forced to launch an investigation.

Fear rippled through the community and children began to walk home in tight knit groups or accept lifts from their parents, there was a spike in home security system sales, and within a week the police had interviewed everyone at Springwood High in an attempt to show their strength.

Worst of all, the rumour mill began to spin.

Nancy had wandered down from her room that morning with nothing to show for her struggle but dirt covered hands and a painful new set of scratches down her spine, knowing there was no use in telling anyone what had happened.

How could she explain to Johnny that she had been there the night his sister had died, and that she had let the monster into Xander's dream? And even if he believed her, how much could she tell without incriminating herself?

Guilt flooded her brain and she held her tongue even when she heard his name begin to be whispered in the hallways at school like the beginnings of a plague.

Freddy Krueger.

Less than three weeks later the uncertain terror had worked its magic and the town woke to their third murder.

“Holly Cromwell? The girl with the glasses?” Julie-Ann asked, clutching her books tightly.

“Her big sister found her this morning,” Grady nodded, lowering his voice slightly as a group of younger kids filtered past them in the hallway, “My uncle was part of the emergency response unit, I heard him on the phone to my dad this morning. Her arms and legs were missing.”

“Missing?!” Julie-Ann whispered hoarsely, and Nancy felt her stomach sink even lower at the news.

“Yeah and she had the same marks on her body as the other two,”

“And no new leads?” Johnny spoke up, his voice low and serious.

Grady shook his head and they lapsed into silence. The news would be all over the school by the end of the day.

Nancy sat in homeroom chewing her pencil nervously. She knew it hadn't been her that let Krueger into Holly's dreams, she had only had her usual nonsense dreams since Xander, with no sign of Freddy or other people, so she could only assume people were becoming scared on their own.

Still, she had opened the floodgates.

The teacher paused at Holly Cromwell's name when he called attendance, shaking his head slightly.

“Another one for the Springwood Slasher!” someone said from the back of the room, and Nancy heard a smattering of laughter.

“Yeah well maybe they'll do us a favour and kill you next!” Grady shouted angrily from three seats away.

“I'd like to see them try,” the boy replied, Nancy had never spoken to him, but she knew him to be the usual thick headed jock that every school has, “Any murderer tries to break into my house and I'll give 'em a taste of my dad's .44, show 'em how a real man kills!”

Nancy watched in disgust as the boy received high-fives from the sycophants around him.

“That's enough, all of you!” the teacher called from the front of the room. He was promptly ignored.

“This isn't the internet, dickweed,” Grady replied, “Dial back the tough guy routine!”

“Hasn't this guy already taken out two of your friends, O'dell?” He responded, “Thought you and what's left of your little gang would want revenge, but I guess you're all too pussy to-”

“Shut the fuck up, Dickson,” Johnny interrupted from beside Nancy, “You don't know what you're talking about.”

“Oh yeah, your sister was the first, wasn't she!” Dickson kept going, turning his attention to Johnny, “Hey maybe Krueger isn't back from the dead after all, maybe Detlan's finally gone off the deep end!”

Johnny rose from his seat quickly, followed by Dickson and his gang, “So did you kill your sister, Detlan?”

Several things happened after that.

Johnny launched himself over a desk, tackling Dickson to the ground. The rest of Dickson's friends immediately joined in, kicking at punching anything they could reach in the tangled mass of limbs that rolled across the floor. Grady leapt in a second after, and Nancy joined Julie-Ann in an attempt to separate the boys while the rest of home room circled around the shouting and cheering, ignoring the angry shouts of their teacher to break it up.

By the time the principal had been summoned and the brawl was broken up, Dickson's nose had been broken, Johnny had a black eye and a gash on his forehead, Grady was gasping for air after being put in a choke hold by one of Dickson's goons, and Nancy sported a welt on her cheek from a poorly aimed kick while Julie-Ann sobbed quietly in the corner, all of them suffering the wrath of the principal as he dished out detentions.

“Look I know this is a hard time for you all,” the principle said at the end, finally coming down from his angry high, “but that's why we as a community need to band together! We should be offering support, not fighting one another!”

“You mean like they did in the seventies?” Dickson asked sourly, holding a cloth to his blood soaked nose.

The principal stiffened.

“I don't know what you've heard,” he said warningly, “But that dark patch of Springwood's history needs to be forgotten.”

Nancy silently agreed with him.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter Thirteen

“Dickweed's got a point though,” Grady said, sitting on the arm of the old recliner in Nancy's lounge room where they had gathered, “Someones killing off our friends, and we haven't done anything about it,”

“What are we supposed to do?” Julie-Ann asked, curled up in the seat next to him, “The cops haven't found anything, what chance do we have?”

“What if...” Nancy said quietly, then hesitated.

Johnny wrapped his arm over her shoulder and hugged her gently, “What if?”

“Well,” Nancy tried to choose her words carefully, “What if Krueger-”

“Don't listen to Dickson, honey,” Julie-Ann said, “He just likes to shit talk about this stuff. It's only a story.”

“No, I know,” she replied, “But what if maybe someones...recreating it?”

“Like a copy-cat killer?” Grady asked.

Johnny looked thoughtful, “You might be on to something there,” he said thoughtfully, “All three victims died at night, presumably while they were asleep,”

“And they all had those weird cuts on them!” Julie-Ann added.

They lapsed into silence for a moment and Nancy hoped her red herring would be enough to inoculate them from the fear that was letting the dream demon run free.

“Alright,” Johnny said after a moment, “If that's the case, then we need to do some digging... and take some precautions. Even if we're wrong, it can't hurt,”

“What sort of precautions?” Nancy asked.

“No one sleeps alone,” he replied, “All the victims were alone and presumably asleep, so we need safety in numbers,”

“Well that's all well and good for you two shacked up together,” Grady pointed out, “But I don't think our parents are gonna let us play sleep over any time soon,”

“Then sleep in your parents bed!” Johnny snapped, clearly not in the mood for jokes, “But if your alone, you don't sleep!”

“I guess I could sleep in my little sisters room,” Julie-Ann said hesitantly, “I'd feel better knowing she was safe,”

“Good, and we should stay in contact as much as possible, share our schedules, don't go anywhere alone. If you find yourself alone at night and you need to sleep then you come here.”

No one argued with this declaration and Nancy tuned out slightly as the topic moved to security cameras and new locks. She knew these things wouldn't help but it was enough to bolster her friends and give them a sense of direction.

“Are you sure this is ok?” Johnny asked, throwing his pillow onto Nancy's bed next to her own, “I can sleep on the floor if you like-”

“It's fine,” she smiled, sliding under the blankets, “I could use the company anyway,”

Johnny turned out the light and she felt the bed shift as he climbed in next to her, laying awkwardly on his back.

“You know, this kinda reminds me of when I was little,” she said after a moment, unable to stand the silence.

“What?” she felt Johnny laugh next to her.

“I used to crawl into bed with Nanna Nancy whenever I had a nightmare,” she laughed, “It always made me feel better,”

“Must be lonely...” he said softly, “Listen, Nancy. If this doesn't work-” he hesitated for a moment, “I mean, If the cops don't catch this guy and someone else gets hurt... I think you should go back to California with your parents,”

Nancy rolled over to face him in the dark, “I'm not going anywhere,” she said, “There's nothing left for me back there,”

“Yeah but-”

Nancy ducked forward and pressed her lips to his, cutting him short.

“Don't worry about me,” she whispered when they broke apart, “I can look after myself,”

A few soft touches and gentle kisses later they were asleep, curled close beneath the blankets.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter Fourteen

Nancy stood out front of the old cinema in the warm night air, looking up at the display sign over the door while people around her laughed and walked along happily.

_**A Nightmare On Elm Street** _

The blocked letters declared their feature film in bright red on the white sign amidst the other titles in standard black lettering.

“What fresh hell is this?” she sighed under her breath, resigning herself to walking into the run down cinema.

The air smelled of stale popcorn with a hint of something rotten beneath and Nancy tread carefully through the cobwebs and broken furniture, skirting the empty ticket booth and heading up the long hallway towards the only open door.

Inside the screening room was packed.

The crowd watched in silence as previews and adds flashed over the gigantic screen that dominated the front of the room, hundreds of eyes fixed to the image of a dancing hot-dog in anticipation for the upcoming feature show.

“Nancy!” She turned and saw a bladed glove silhouetted over the screen, waving in the streak of light that shone from the back of the room.

“Great,” She muttered, making her way up the side stairs to the row. It wasn't like she could run anywhere.

Her leg bumped against someone as she slipped down the row sending a bucket of popcorn to the floor and she turned to apologise, stopping short when she noticed the sunken, eyeless face that stared blankly at the screen.

“Holy fuck!” she tried to back away from the mummified corpse and tripped over another, scrambling her way through the dead crowd until she reached an empty seat.

“Stop fucking laughing!” she snapped, going so far as to smack the dream demon hard in the chest, “That's disgusting, why the hell did you fill the cinema with corpses?”

“Because they don't talk during the movie,” he cackled, “And this is a good one!”

“I'm really not in the mood for movies, especially if you're here,” she replied, “Can I wake up now?”

“And ruin our first date?” he snickered, “I suppose you wanna get back to your lover boy, we can go see him instead if you prefer?”

Nancy thought about Johnny sleeping peacefully next to her, “I'd rather not, I like my men alive thanks,”

“Have you tried dead?” he raised an eyebrow, “They give better-”

“Don't finish that sentence,” she snapped, slouching into her seat.

The commercials ended and the lighting in the room dropped as the curtains drew wider, revealing a boxed screen and Nancy watched curiously as the movie began.

“Wait, is that you?” she asked, watching as the camera showed a set of hands crafting what she knew to be a very painful set of knives.

“Shh!” Krueger seemed to be enjoying himself.

“Great, a movie about you...” she rolled her eyes and snatched the box of popcorn from his hands, glad to find that it wasn't filled with maggots or some other bullshit.

The shot switched to a young blonde girl in a white nightgown and Nancy recognised the boiler room.

She also recognised the fear on the poor girls face as she ran frantically through her dream.

“Hold the fuck up!” she spoke again, this time almost standing in an attempt to get closer to the screen, “Is that... Nanna Nancy?” There was no mistaking the face of the woman who had raised her even with the drastic age difference.

“Sit!” A hand grabbed her night shirt and yanked her roughly down again.

“That's my Nanna!” She insisted, pointing at the screen and knocking the head off the dead man seated in front of her, “What-”

“Shut the fuck up, bitch!” Freddy snarled before turning his gaze back to the screen.

Nancy bit her tongue and watched the movie closely, absorbing every moment her Nanna was on screen.

“The bathtub? Really?” she glanced over at him with a disgusted look when the movie turned to a disturbingly intimate shot of a glove slipping out of the hot water between a pair of pale legs.

“We can try it later,” he whispered back, and she gave a snort of contempt.

The silence of the cinema was broken again towards the climax of the film when the young heroine managed to pull Freddy out of her dreams and into the real world, promptly shattering a glass coffee pot over his head.

“Stop fucking laughing, this isn't a comedy!” Freddy pulled her hair roughly to break her from the fit of laughter she had fallen into as his silver screen counterpart stumbled his way through crudely constructed booby traps.

Nancy was still giggling when the movie ended and they exited the cinema, leaving the eternal audience behind.

“Oh... my... god!” Nancy stepped out onto the pavement, her sides aching from laughter, “What kind of dumb ass gets himself burned to death twice!”

“It clearly didn't fucking work,” Apparently her reaction was not the one Krueger had intended.

“Aww, is the big scary dream demon embarrassed?” she asked mockingly. Digging her own grave was worth the sour look on his face.

“Can't take you anywhere, can I?” he huffed, grabbing her arm and pulling her.

Nancy stopped and looked around in surprise when the dream changed seamlessly from downtown Springwood to her own living room.

“How much control do you have over dreams?” she asked curiously, sitting down on the sofa. If she was stuck here she may as well be comfortable.

“Depends,” he answered vaguely, laying back in the recliner across from her and lighting a smoke that she could have sworn wasn't there a second ago.

“Oh come on,” she rolled her eyes, “At least tell me you're powerful enough to dream me up a drink while I'm trapped here. That popcorn was way too salty.”

Krueger looked at her thoughtfully for a moment before snapping his fingers.

The room instantly filled with hundreds of lit candles that flickered and swayed from almost impossible angles, accompanied by the arrival of a bottle of wine and two glasses on the coffee table next to her.

“Real smooth,” she snorted as the old record player in the corner started up and Sinatra began to croon softly.

“So how long did it take you to find a song with my name in it?” she asked sceptically, sipping her wine.

“It was already in the player,” he replied innocently, rolling off the recliner and strolling over to the sofa to snatch up the second glass.

“Do I have any power here?” she tried pressing him again, “Or is this whole thing your playground?”

“All dreams are mine,” he answered, “And my reach is growing with every soul I claim. It may not look like much now, but when this town falls I'll be able to spread!” he flung his arms out dramatically and Nancy dodged the bladed glove.

“Speaking of which- did you kill that poor Cromwell girl?” she asked, glaring at him.

Freddy let out a short laugh, “That kid was scared of her own shadow, the moment she heard my name she was done for!”

“Yeah your a real hit topside,” Nancy said sarcastically, taking another sip to avoid looking at him, “Are you planning on murdering all of Springwood?”

“Let's play it by year,” he replied, putting down his glass and leaning in close, “I always prefer to take things slow... to savour the moment!”

“Really, and here I thought three deaths in a few months was excessive!” she replied, “But I guess you don't have much to do in between murder sprees besides jack-off to your own movies.”

Nancy felt a hand run up her thigh, “I admit, my entertainment options have greatly increased since you got here,” he said slyly.

Warning lights went off in Nancy's head and she tried to pull away, already knowing it was pointless. Murder and mayhem aside, her body had it's own ideas on what would happen next.

“Why...” she shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts, but every time she looked at the monster next to her, her traitorous heart fluttered in her chest far more energetically than any time the boy currently sleeping next to her had touched her.

“Why?” Freddy cocked his head to the side and Nancy felt something hot and wet slide around the shell of her ear.

“Why do I... why does this feel...” Her mouth was having trouble forming words.

“Right?” he offered, and she could hear the smugness in his voice, “Because you're my Nancy,” he growled softly in her ear and a shiver ran down her spine.

“You've always been my Nancy,”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If anyone is wondering, the song on the jukebox is playing "Nancy with the laughing face" by Frank Sinatra <3


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter Fifteen

She was melting. Trapped in a swirling kaleidoscope of candlelight and smokey scent, with nothing to orient her senses but a single hand stroking the top of her thigh and the mouth that trailed wetly from her neck down to her chest.

“You're a bit overdressed,” she heard from somewhere, and before she could open her eyes she heard the sound of tearing fabric and looked down to find the shredded remains of her nightshirt falling away.

“Hey!” she snarled, “That better not be ruined when I wake up!”

The glove shifted quickly upwards, pressing against her bottom jaw and forcing her to hold her head higher.

Without a word he dropped his head, biting her nipple.

Nancy whimpered and tried to squirm away without piercing herself on the blades that rested on her neck, biting her lip when he released her and began lavishing the bite with his tongue, his left hand sliding up to caress her other breast.

“Oh...fuck,” she sighed, her head dropping back on the pillow as the assault caused a pool of heat between her legs, even the sharp pricks on her neck when the glove shifted had taken on a new feeling, adding a hint of desperation.

Freddy chuckled and shifted again, laying over her and capturing her mouth in a searing kiss that she didn't hesitate to return, fighting roughly with his tongue for dominance while her hands wandered freely over the his back, sliding under the dirty sweater to find blisteringly hot skin, knotted and scarred beneath her fingers.

He pulled back, sitting on his haunches to look down at her.

“Before you open your fat mouth,” she panted, knowing that any number of snarky comments rested on the tip of his tongue, “Remember I can always go back to running away,”

“And I can always go back to killing off your little friends,” he countered, “Your screams aren't the only ones I get off on!”

Nancy screwed up her face and attempted to wriggle out from beneath him, screaming when he grabbed her waist and flipped them both.

Finding herself suddenly straddling him, Nancy looked around to find the flip had moved them to a bed. Specifically hers, but the locale had changed to the stiflingly heated boiler room.

A sharp pinch bought her back to attention and she looked down warily, watching the razored glove trace a line between her breasts, leaving a paper-thin scratch in its wake.

“Any chance you could take that off?” she asked as small droplets of blood began to appear on her skin.

Freddy answered by hooking a single blade into his sweater and tearing it open, grinning.

“Not what I meant,” she glared at him.

He sat up, holding her firmly in his lap so she could feel his hardness pressing into her thigh and kissing her hard enough to bruise.

Nancy wrapped her hands over his shoulders, her breath becoming shorter as his left hand crept beneath her underwear, tracing small circles around her clit with dirty, burned fingers.

“Fuck!” she broke away from his mouth when he slipped a finger in her without warning, curling against her sensitive walls.

“Already so fucking wet for Freddy?” he growled, thrusting his finger deeper and watching her lift her hips and gasp at the intrusion, “Your pussy's already begging for me!”

“You're such a cunt,” she gasped out, her fingers digging into his shoulder when he added a second finger and began moving rhythmically, keeping his gloved hand wrapped firmly over her ass to prevent her from moving away.

“I love it when you talk dirty,” he replied, pulling his fingers away and bringing them up to his mouth to lick.

Nancy flushed slightly and turned away from his smug face, her discomfort only heightening his enjoyment.

He pushed her roughly from his lap and onto her back with a growl, slicing away the last shred of clothing she had left, leaving a small gash behind.

She cried out, shifting herself up the bed and immediately stopped when he slashed violently downwards with the glove, driving the blades deep into the mattress inches from her head.

She looked up at him and a flicker of fear broke through. Even when he was laughing he was frightening, but in that moment the was something predatory behind his red eyes, something deadly and uncontrollable and for a wild moment she wondered if he would actually kill her after all.

“You look scared, little Nancy,” he sneered, leaning close, covering her body with his own.

He thrust against her and she gasped, realising he had dreamed away the the last of his own clothing.

Terror and lust made a strange combination and Nancy found herself unable to move or look away as the monster above her positioned himself and slowly, agonisingly, pushed inside her, eliciting small whimpers and moans from her throat as she felt herself stretch to accommodate him.

Freddy Krueger was not a silent lover, his own growls and gasps joined her as she saw his eyes loose focus, rolling upwards when he couldn't push any farther.

“Tight and hot, just the way I like it,” he smirked, beginning to thrust slowly.

Nancy's heart fluttered with each desperate noise that came with each inward motion, marvelling at the sound of a deadly monster coming undone and driving her into a frenzy until she was thrusting her hips up to meet him, her head turned sideways to feel his breath on her neck accompanied by the occasional bite.

It didn't take long for her to reach the edge and her breathing became ragged, hitching with need every time his cock stroked the sweet spot inside her.

“Look at me,” A hand grasped her law roughly and turned her head, “I want to see your face, I want you to know exactly who's turned you into their little slut!”

“I-...” Her vision blurred, leaving behind nothing but the nightmarish face that smirked above her, his own focus wavering as he slammed into her with almost inhuman speed.

A torrent of screams and curses fell from her lips as her orgasm crashed over her like a wave of fire, joined quickly by a raspy roar as the dream demon bottomed out inside her, filling her with molten liquid while the glove that was lodged in the mattress torn downwards, shredding through the material.

Soaked in sweat and trapped beneath the weight of Freddy, Nancy slowly came down from her high.

“Nancy...”

“Mfph...” she closed her eyes tighter, too sore and sensitive to move.

“Nancy... have to...up,”

She jerked her head, trying to break free from the bruising grip and mumbled something else.

“Nancy! Wake up!”


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter Sixteen

Nancy opened her eyes to find Johnny looking down at her with worry.

“You were screaming,” he said, releasing her jaw quickly, “I thought you were having a seizure or something,”

“I...Sorry,” Nancy blinked a few times in the dim morning light, “I have... nightmares. Bad ones,” she finished lamely.

“That one must have been crazy bad,” he breathed, relaxing slightly now she was awake.

“Fifty-fifty,” she mumbled, throwing the blanket off her sweat soaked legs and sitting up.

“Is that blood?” he asked suddenly, pointing to her thigh, “And what the hell happened to your shirt?”

Nancy swore under her breath and jumped out of the bed quickly, throwing on her nightgown and wincing at the rush of pain through her body.

“Whoa Nancy,” Johnny jumped out after her, “You're covered in scratches and bruises, what-”

“It's nothing, really!” she lied, pulling her gown tighter, “I-... I just thrash around a bunch when I have bad dreams...” she trailed off awkwardly, wishing he would look anywhere else but her flushed face.

He came around the bed and raised his hand, tracing the tiny marks on her neck, “Nancy... you really have to cut your finger-nails,” he laughed nervously.

Nancy breathed a small sigh of relief and took his hand, holding it and accepting the small kiss on her cheek with little guilt.

“I'm going to jump in the shower,” she said, “Can you message the others to see if they're ok?”

Johnny agreed and headed downstairs with his phone while she slipped into the bathroom and locked the door firmly before unwrapping her robe to examine the damage.

Dark bruises were forming over her neck and arms, surrounded by a myriad of cat scratches and a few deeper ones that had already stained what was left of her ruined nightshirt.

“Fuck,” she sighed, rubbing her aching thighs. Even her lips hurt from the crushing kisses, but she supposed it could have been a lot worse.

The worst part, she realised while scrubbing herself thoroughly, was the alarming lack of guilt she felt. On one hand she had fucked (and enjoyed) the bastard responsible for murdering her friends, not to mention the countless other children and teens throughout the decades. On the other hand though, he had practically admitted she was serving as a distraction from said murder.

Her thoughts strayed to the boy downstairs waiting for her and she wondered idly if the argument of not being responsible for what you dream would hold up.

Too tired and sore to tackle the supposed moral dilemma she had landed herself in, Nancy finished her shower and dressed deliberately in a long-sleeve shirt before making her way downstairs for the coffee she desperately needed.

The day passed by in agonising slowness and Nancy found herself continuously glancing at the clock above the door, counting down the hours until she was free.

When her brain was finally done replaying the more graphic scenes from her dream, she had found herself recalling the so called “movie” she had watched, and she was desperate to know how much of it was true.

If Nanna Nancy really had came up against Krueger in her youth, then she had to have found a way to defeat him, or at the very least lock him away again, and if that were true, then she may have left something behind either on her computer or in the boxes filled with paperwork that Nancy had stowed away in the old rental shed when she moved.

It wasn't much to go on, but it was better than pretending that locked doors and cameras were going to keep her friends safe.


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter Seventeen

“You really didn't have to come,” she said, searching through her key-chain while Johnny leaned against the side of her car and lit a smoke, looking around at the rows of locked storage units.

“You know the rules. No one goes anywhere alone,” he shrugged, “Besides, I wanted to come,”

“You wanted to watch me rifle through dusty old boxes all afternoon?” she laughed, finding the small key with the orange tag and unlocking 36B, rolling the heavy door upwards.

“It's your Nanna's stuff, I thought maybe...” he trailed off.

“You're sweet,” she said, kissing him on the cheek, “I'll try not to be too long,”

Nancy left him sitting on her car in the afternoon sun and stepped into the musty room, looking around at the stacks of boxes and reading the labels in the dim fluorescent light.

Bypassing the hastily stacked boxes of china and glassware, she weaved her way through the chintz armchairs that had once held centre stage in their apartment and squatted down next to four large office boxes with the word 'STUDY' stamped across them.

The first and second boxes were filled with folders that she recognised as client records that her Nanna had kept long after she had stopped practising psychology and Nancy pushed them aside, reaching for the third box which held a battered collection of leather bound textbooks, all of them well-read and dog-eared.

She lifted the books out and reached into the bottom of the box, her fingers grasping an old photo album.

She hadn't wanted to bring it with her originally. Like everything else in the storage space it was too painful to even consider and she had locked it all away like a bad memory with no plans to open it again any time soon, but the sight of her Nanna, even in her dream, was enough to make her yearn for it again and she set the album aside to take home with her.

The last box was filled haphazardly with loose sheets of paper and manila folders and she leafed through them curiously.

“So this is what you kept in the locked desk drawers,” she said to nobody in particular, “I always thought they were full of alcohol... or a gun,”

She threw the album into the box and closed the lid, hefting it onto her hip and carrying it awkwardly back to the rectangle of daylight that lit the front of the room.

“Find what you wanted?” Johnny asked, coming over to take the box and put it in the back seat.

“I hope so,” she said, rolling the door closed and locking it.

If there was anything for her to find, she was sure it was in that box somewhere.

“KRUEGER!” 1428 Elm street shook on its foundations, the staircase groaning in protest as Nancy thundered down the stairs.

“Get the fuck out here now!” she shouted again, wrenching the door to the basement open hard enough to tear it from its hinges, “I want answers!”

Several sheets of paper were scrunched tightly in her fist and she waved them about, “Why don't I remember this?! What happened? What did you DO?!”

The dream world seemed to come alive with her anger, shifting and humming like a swarm of wasps around her as she flew down the basement stairs and stormed through the boiler room, kicking a stray pipe that attempted to bar her path and sending it curling backwards into itself like a wounded animal.

The piercing screech of metal scraping on metal filled the air, hurting her ears and worsening her already sour mood.

“What's got your panties in a twist?” A gravelly voice laughed.

“They think it was me!” she snarled, throwing the crumpled documents him the moment he stepped out from behind a large pipe, “You killed them and they blamed ME!”

Krueger ducked down and snatched up the weaponized papers, barely glancing at them before breaking out into laughter.

“Why are you laughing?” her voice rose higher and her head pounded painfully as he continued to antagonise her, “You killed my parents and they blamed me! I was four years old!”

“Guess again!” he snarled, pointing a blade at her and looking around curiously when the concrete ground below their feet rumbled, “C'mon Nancy you know the answer! All you have to do...” He pointed behind her and she turned.

A door had appeared in the middle of the alleyway, it's unattached frame glowing at the sides, obscuring a blistering white light.

Nancy stepped towards it, her head throbbing like something was going to burst from her skull.

“...Is open the door,”


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter Eighteen

“Nancy?” a worried voice called from downstairs and Nancy looked up from her drawing, “Could you come downstairs please?”

Nancy reluctantly climbed from her bed and followed the voice of her mother, a red crayon still clutched in her small hand.

When she came into the kitchen she found both her parents sitting at the table.

“It's ok honey,” her mommy held out a hand and beckoned to her, wiping her cheeks on her sleeve quickly, “We just want to have a little chat is all,”

Nancy reluctantly sat down at the table with them, her feet swinging idly as she waited for them to start talking.

Mommy took a deep breath and glanced over at Daddy before holding up some pieces of paper.

“We just wanted to ask you-” she hesitated for a brief moment, “About your drawings. Did you draw these?”

Nancy looked at the stack of pictures she had thought were on her desk in her room and nodded, wondering what the problem was. The pictures weren't great, but surely they weren't bad enough to make someone cry?

“Can you tell me about them?” Mommy asked, picking out out and sliding it over the table, “Can you tell me about this one?”

Nancy looked at the picture. She remembered this one, it was one of the first ones she did.

“Who is this?” her mommy asked again, her finger pointing to the stick figure-like girl in the purple dress.

“Lucy Gibson,” Nancy said, “She was a girl in my class but she's gone now,”

Her parents passed a meaningful glance.

“That's right, she went missing last January. Is that why you drew her?” Mommy asked, “Because you were sad she went away?”

Nancy shook her head, frowning, “No, I didn't like her. I'm glad she's gone.”

The father twitched in his chair as though he wanted to get up, but her just crossed his arms and continued to listen.

“Oh...” her Mommy seemed confused, “ok... so what- what is this red stuff?”

Nancy bit her lip and looked at the picture again, “It's her blood, but my old crayon set didn't have a very good red so I had to put some brown and stuff in it,”

Mommy looked sad and Nancy's little hands balled into fists, “It's not my fault ok! I lost the good red one at school and-”

“It's ok!” Mommy quickly held up a hand to stop her talking.

Nancy breathed deep and waited. The talk was making her angry and she wanted to shout, but if she shouted then the talk would last longer and she really wanted to finish her new picture before bedtime, so she kept her mouth closed.

Mommy made her tell them about the rest of the pictures, asking who the people were and what was happening to them. Nancy had thought her pictures were pretty good at showing what had happened to them. She had drawn them as soon as she could while she could still remember it all so that she would never forget them.

Each picture seemed to upset her parents more and by the time they had finished looking at them her mommy was crying again, and daddy had gone outside to have a smoke.

Nancy asked if she could be excused and her Mommy gave her a tight hug before telling her to go back to her room.

Nancy stopped outside the door to listen to them talk.

“I think we should take her to a doctor,” Mommy said.

“She's not sick Margret, she's just-”

“But these disappearances- these attacks! They're clearly having a bad effect on her! And I don't know how she knows so much-”

“Kids know more than we give them credit for,” Daddy said, “The drawings are just her way of processing this stuff! She was bound to figure some of it out, half the kids were in her school for Christ sake!”

Nancy heard her Mommy sniffle a bit before going on, “Maybe we should go away for a while, I'm getting scared... I don't feel safe anymore, I don't feel like Nancy is safe anymore!”

Nancy held her breath to hear Daddy's next words, “Alright, I'll look into it.”

There was a shuffle as the parents came inside, but by that time the small eavesdropper had disappeared back into her room.

More anger than she had ever felt before flooded her head and Nancy shoved her face into her pillow, muffling her tantrum.

She didn't want to leave Springwood.

She sat up, wiping her red face and going back to her drawing. It was a picture of what her Mommy called 'Nancy's Imaginary Friend', and Nancy felt like it was her best picture yet. She had drawn the lines on his stripy jumper perfectly, and even if her Mommy didn't believe he was real, Nancy knew that he would come and see her again tonight so they could play the scaring game.

Nancy felt a little better as she started colouring again. She would ask him tonight what to do about her parents wanting to leave. He would know the answer.

Freddy knew everything.


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter Nineteen

“Oh my god...” Nancy held her throbbing head as the sickening flashes of memory settled back into her head, filling in every gap perfectly.

She had killed her parents. Well, sort of.

Worse still, she had helped open pathways and doors into the minds of others, letting death into their dreams and watching with glee as they were hunted down by fear, tearing at their souls until they couldn't run another step.

“The scaring game...” she whispered, still half caught in the last of the memories, “We played the scaring game and you... YOU!” she turned and glared at the monster that had always been in her dreams, “You used me! You-”

Nancy couldn't finish. He was on her faster than lightning with a crushing, desperate kiss that bought back more memories with the smell of smoke and the rough texture of his sweater.

Pure happiness contrasted with horrific scenes of blood and torn flesh in her mind. Dozens of bodies left in the wake of a game that a child had played, including those of her own loving parents, but nothing was quite so strong as the dizzying rush of nostalgia for his presence and she moaned, letting him push her backwards until she was pinned to a wall of pipes.

“Mmf-” Nancy pulled away and felt his mouth instantly latch to her neck, “I'm not done being mad at you! You groomed me to-”

“Shut the fuck up,” he growled against her skin and she had to quickly follow his lead and wrap her thighs around his waist to avoid the dangerous blades on one hand.

Nancy gasped when he thrust into her harshly, barely giving her a moment to adjust before sliding back and slamming into her even harder and she cried out, wrapping her hands around the pipes behind her to prevent her head from jolting back into the metal.

She couldn't speak, she couldn't think. Her mind went blank with the ferocity of his movements and her body responded quickly, leaving her panting and whimpering when she came hard around his cock.

A torrent of curses fell from his mouth when she felt him press deep inside her with a shudder, almost crushing her against the wall.

“Ahh, I could get used to this,”  He purred in her ear, letting her down slowly onto trembling legs. 

“Well don’t,” she replied, “Just because I remember doesn’t mean I’m suddenly ecstatic about murder,”

Freddy watched her curiously as she straightened her clothes and regained her balance, making her flush red, “What?” she snapped, “Why are you staring at me?”

He crossed his arms and laughter echoed through the boiler room, but he didn’t answer.

Nancy rolled her eyes, “You always were an annoying prick,”

“Tch,” Freddy scoffed, slouching against the opposite wall, “You loved it. You always thought I was the best!”

Nancy laughed and shook her head at the memories, “I really did... god I was a stupid kid,” she paused, her smile fading slightly, “And then I stopped dreaming...”

Nancy remembered the painful months after her parents had died. The weeks she spent in a cold, white room with only her Nanna and the myriad of Doctors for company. She remembered the sensors that were taped to her head at night and the constant questions to see if a four year old girl truly had caused the horror scene that was her parents bedroom the morning they had been found. Most of all she remembered constant insistence that she swallow the little white pills they had given her every night.

“The Hypnocil! That’s what it was called!” Nancy was talking more to herself at this point and she missed the sharp flash of anger in the red eyes that followed her revelations, “It was a dream inhibitor! I never cried because I had nightmares, I was upset because I couldn’t dream anymore! And then...” She spun on her heel and looked over at Freddy, still leaning against the wall, “I was on them for so long that I forgot I had ever dreamed at all! By the time I stopped taking them we had moved to California and you-”

“I couldn’t reach that far,” he snarled, cutting off her excited rant.

Nancy’s excitement faded in the face of her current predicament. Her Nanna may have saved her before, but she was alone now, and she had wandered right back into the same place she had been all those years ago.

Nancy swallowed hard, trying to come up with a way to distract him from the plan forming in the back of her mind, “I missed you,” she blurted out, almost without thinking, “I tried to find you every night, but they stopped my dreams...”

“How touching,” Freddy sneered, laying the gloved hand over his heart mockingly. She clearly wasn’t fooling anyone, “What a pity you grew a conscience while you were gone! It really doesn’t suit you,” he stepped closer, the passive twitching of his fingers causing the blades to scrape together, “I know what you’re thinking... You think you can run off to the doctors the moment you wake up and get a nice strong supply of those pills to keep me out! Take enough of those bad boys and you’ll never have to see Freddy again!”

Nancy bit her lip and stayed silent, cursing inwardly.

“But if you’re not dreaming of me... Then the rest of this miserable town will be,” he said smugly, leaning close and toying with a strand of her hair, “You’re not the only one starting to remember, Nancy!”


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter Twenty

“You look awful,” Nancy quickly slipped the stack of old drawings and hospital documents into the top drawer of her dresser before turning to glare at Johnny.

“Wow thanks,” she replied, “You really know how to make a girl feel special,”

He wasn't wrong. The bruise on her face from being kicked was turning a nasty shade of green and yellow as it slowly healed, and beneath her long sleeve shirts and jeans she was amassing a decent collection of cuts and bruises from her late night rendezvous with the local boogeyman, leaving her exhausted and sore throughout the day.

Johnny laughed and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close. His warmth washed over her and she sighed, wishing she could be dreaming of him each night.

“So I was thinking,” he said, resting his chin on her shoulder, “We should have a party this weekend,”

“What's the occasion?” she asked curiously.

“People are scared,” he shrugged as she laughed at his reply, “Maybe a chance to relax and socialise is just what we need,”

“I'm sorry, I thought I was talking to Johnny,” she scoffed, pushing him away, “I didn't realise you were channelling Grady,”

“Yeah you got me,” he shrugged again, pulling out his phone to show her the barrage of messages from Grady begging him to ask her to host a huge bash.

“Sure why not,” she replied, “but it's gotta be BYO, I'm not shilling out for whatever randoms Grady invites,”

Nancy laughed as he thanked her profusely for saving him from the text attack, disappearing downstairs with his phone already to his ear as he called Grady to spread the word.

Nancy slumped against the dresser, shaking her head.

A party would at least be something fun to look forward to before she went ahead with her feeble plans.

Despite the dire warnings, Nancy had booked an appointment with a professional at Westin Hills the moment she had woken up. If she could convince them to give her the Hypnocil it would be good to have it around just in case.

Unfortunately the earliest appointment was next Monday, so she had an entire week to worry aimlessly.

Within 24 hours the news of a party at 1428 Elm Street had spread like wildfire. Even those who wouldn't normally frequent house parties planned to be there to alleviate the stress of the first half of the year and ward off the creeping fear that was permeating the town, and Nancy had to admit that it was a good idea on Grady's part.

Another bonus she had noticed was the switch from people attributing the current wave of murders from the Springwood Slasher to a lesser feared copycat, and the idea of someone riding off the work of an old ghost story seemed to earn scorn more than fear, closing a few gaps that Krueger had opened.

By the time Saturday rolled around Nancy actually found herself looking forward to the party, and she was glad that Grady and Julie-Ann had arrived early to help her and Johnny set up for the incoming wave of freedom starved teens.

“You're sure this is ok?” Johnny asked, fixing a bunch of duct tape to the banister to prevent anyone from migrating upstairs during the night.

“I don't see how it could make anything worse,” Nancy shrugged, checking the lock on the basement door for the third time in fifteen minutes. Dream world or not, she didn't need someone wandering down and ending up in hell.

Grady pushed aside furniture and made space throughout the house while Julie-Ann stashed anything old or delicate looking in the linen cupboard, sufficiently child-proofing the house for the night, and by the time the first wave of people showed up the music was blaring and the boys had begun the first round of street-fighter.

Nancy and Julie-Ann made their own game of seeing people's reactions when they first arrived at what was firmly believed to be a haunted house, taking a drink each time someone hesitated in the doorway, paused in the yard to look up in vague horror at the upstairs windows or commented on the absurd amount of graffiti that still lingered on the walls and doors.

Questions about ghost-sightings meant a jello-shot.

As the sun went down the house only got louder and brighter and things expanded in the way that only house parties can, and within a few hours there was a barbecue filled with fat sausages sizzling away in the back yard next to a blow-up kiddy-pool, and a large crowd had formed around a ping-pong table. None of these things were planned by Nancy or her friends, and when asked, nobody at the party seemed to know who had bought them.

“Do they even go to our school?” Nancy asked casually, pointing to a group of giggling girls that were watching the game of beer pong.

She was stretched out on a deck chair lazily with Johnny's head resting in her lap, her efforts as host no longer needed.

Johnny didn't bother to look and simply shrugged. Nancy swept a strand of hair from his pinched face, noticing he had lost weight.

The dark shadow of guilt threatened to drift over as her thoughts automatically turned Beth, but was shooed away quickly by several shouts from inside that formed into her name.

“The hell's going on in there?” Johnny asked, clearly unhappy about loosing his pillow when Nancy got up and made her way inside.

“What?” she asked Grady incredulously when she reached the front door. By now half the house had stopped what they were doing to watch the scuffle. Grady pointed to the door and Nancy looked over at the three people standing sheepishly on the stoop.

“What are you lot doing here?” she crossed her arms and glared at Dickson and the two other boys that flanked him.

The moment they looked at her she could tell something had changed about them. Dickson looked exhausted and had lost the air of confidence that he usually wore. His eyes were dark and he looked like he might be on the verge of a fever.

“They said they wanted to apologize,” Grady said in a 'can-you-believe-it' voice.

“W-we do!” Dickson snapped, “I wanted to...” he seemed to be struggling to shape his thoughts into words.

“Tomar died last night,” the boy standing next to him said quietly. Nancy thought he was the one that had kicked her in the face.

Any noise that had still stuck around quickly left at these words and Nancy swore softly under her breath.

“So?” Johnny asked from ever her shoulder, “What do you want us to do about it?”

“Nothing! or- shit, I don't know!” Dickson shouted, “I thought we could put heads together and catch whoever did it! Tomar got stabbed to death in his own bed! You're sister-”

“Careful,” Grady warned, and Nancy put a hand on Johnny's arm to keep him from moving.

“Look, I just wanted to apologise,” Dickson took a deep breath and stopped shouting, “And let you know that I'm gunning for the sunnofabitch. If you’re serious about getting even then we should team up.”

Nancy exchanged glances with the other three.

“Oh, and I bought this-” Dickson thrust a brown paper bag into Johnny’s hands. “My dad says a real man always brings a peace offering...” he tapered off awkwardly and Johnny unwrapped the bottle of expensive rum. 

When hands had been shaken the crowd dispersed, their interest gone when the chance of a fight was off the table, and Johnny lead Dickson into the kitchen where they both set to work of the offered alcohol.

“Johnny really has changed,” Grady said softly, “No way he would be hanging out with Dickson if these murders weren’t happening.”

“War makes strange bedfellows,” The boy next to them said wisely, handing Nancy a second bag-clad bottle, “Sorry for the shiner,” he said, “I wasn’t aiming for you,”

Nancy watched him disappear into the crowd and looked down at the wine bottle in her hand. She didn’t know why, but she felt like something major had just happened, and somehow she hadn’t been included.


	21. Chapter 21

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow! I honestly wasn't expecting anyone to ever read this, but the amount of followers is blowing me away! I'm super keen to finish the story, and we're working out way up to the finale now, so if you're not too shy then give me a shout out on what you like or what you don't. That being said, we're working up to a bit of kink that (although super vanilla tame) might not be everyone's cup of tea. But what can I say, my Freddy likes it dirty ;)

Chapter Twenty-One

The night passed in a colorful blur of drinks, laughter and deep, thrumming music that that pulsated through the impromptu dance-floor, toying with her heartbeat as she danced with the crowd into blissful exhaustion, and it was almost dawn before the last of the straggling crowd wandered out into the night and Nancy finally locked the door.

“Need some help?” Johnny asked from behind her as she struggled to step over the barrier of tape that blocked the staircase, laughing when she swayed sideways half-way over and fell to the floor. 

The drunken pair stumbled miraculously up the staircase, leaning heavily on each other and laughing when they inevitably veered sideways into the wall and wound up on the floor again.

Laughter turned to comfortable silence, then ebbed onward into nervous territory, and before either of them knew it they were wound tightly together in a far more intimate embrace than anything they had done before.

The sweet boy that had turned darkly pensive since the death of his sister was everything Nancy could have wished for in a lover, and they spent the night in an endearingly clumsy and gentle affair that would have been the envy of every young boy and girl that had attended the party had they stuck around to watch.

“What were you talking about?” Nancy asked curiously when they were too tired to move anymore and simply lay in the tangled aftermath.

Nancy had barely seen Johnny after Dickson had arrived, and any time she did see him he was holed up in a quiet corner with the other boy, talking with serious expressions and even more serious alcohol.

A heavy silence followed the question and Johnny sighed, adjusting himself to hold her against him.

“I’ll tell you tomorrow,” he said, stifling a yawn, “If I remember,”

Nancy smirked and curled up in his warm embrace, the exertion of the night finally taking hold and pulling her into slumber.

Nancy blinked and found herself in a darkened room. Shapes and angles gave the promise of light around her and she shifted, trying to see where she was only to find her arms tightly bound above her head by heavy chains that rattled with years of rust.

“What the-” she pulled again, but whatever she was bound to in the darkness above refused to give and she spiraled slightly, regaining her balance on bare feet that scraped over cold stone.

“What the fuck is this?!” she called out to the darkness. The only reply was the repetitive sound of water dripping in the distance.

A dream for certain. But she had never faced one quite so unsettling before, and anger warred with fear as she waited for something to happen, trapped in her prone position.

“Freddy if this is your idea of a joke... Or a date, I’m not into it!” she shouted again, wincing when the chains pinched her wrists. 

“Hello?” a voice echoed in out of the darkness and she froze, “Is someone here?”

The sound of footsteps came closer and Nancy squinted at the figure emerging from the abyss around her.

“Hey, I know you!” she gasped when the boy stumbled close enough for her to see his face. 

“What the...” the boy that had gifted her with a rather nice bottle of wine earlier that night stared open mouthed at her, his eyes dropping down to her body. 

Nancy followed his gaze and groaned when she realized she was naked. Perfect.

“Why are you chained up?” he asked shakily, clearly terrified. Nancy got the feeling she knew why, “W-what happened to you?!”

“Never mind that,” she brushed him off, “Can you undo these chains? I’m pretty sure we’re going to have to run soon and I’m not going to be able to help you if I’m swinging from the roof like a smoked ham,”

“Wh- why... I didn’t mean to... I already said I was sorry,” the boy backed away, breaking into a cold sweat. 

“Ok calm down,” Nancy said, “I really don’t care-”

Her words stopped when his mouth opened and and a wave of crimson poured forth, streaking down his neck and across his chest to meet with the glinting points of metal that jutted through his torso from behind.

“No!” Nancy pulled hard on the chains and tried to step forward, but the boy collapsed into a choking heap and twitched miserably, trying to crawl away from the shadowy figure that chuckled in the darkness behind him.

“Don’t worry,” Freddy growled from the edges of her vision, “He isn’t dead yet,”

“Why is he here at all?” she snapped, “And what is this BDSM bullshit?” she shook the chains for emphasis. 

“You’ve been a naughty girl, Nancy,” he said, suddenly standing behind her, running a hand up her bare thigh. 

Nancy felt a jolt of panic. Had he found out about her plan to get the Hypnocil?

“I can totally explain-” she started, having no clue where her story would go from there. For better or worse she wasn’t granted the chance to continue. A sharp blade came up beneath her chin, breaking the skin just enough to make her gasp and pull away. 

A pained groan came from somewhere on the ground and she felt more than saw Freddy stroll around her and snatch the bleeding boy from the ground by his collar, hefting him up to make him look at her.

“Please don’t...” she said, her voice wavering and pathetic in the darkness, “Just leave him alone... I don’t want to see people die anymore!”

Freddy’s face twisted and any semblance of playfulness or laughter evaporated, leaving behind only the twisted visage of a demon that knew nothing but pain ad suffering and she closed her eyes, refusing to watch the next part.

“What's the matter, Nancy?” she heard him growl, “I thought you liked having multiple guys, don't you want him to stick around and watch?”

Nancy's eyes snapped open.

“Wait... you're-” realization hit her hard and she couldn't help but laugh, “Oh my god, you're jealous!”

The boy was dropped carelessly back tot he ground and the dream demon stormed forward to grab her jaw roughly.

“Open his dreams for me, and I'll let this one go!” he gestured behind him to the boy now attempting to crawl away. 

“What? No! Let him go and untie me, and stop acting like a child!” she replied, still laughing slightly. 

The grip on her jaw became tighter, “I don't think you're in a position to argue!”

“Well I'm not really in a position to do anything else,” she said, swinging about on the chains that held her, “Are you really upset that I got laid?”

Krueger didn't answer, instead choosing to circle behind her so she couldn't see him, “Oh I can think of a few things we can do in this position,” he purred from somewhere in the darkness.


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter Twenty-Two

A hand slithered out of the darkness and gripped her thigh, tracing small circles on her skin before moving upwards to cup her bare ass.

“If my Nancy wants to act like a dirty little slut, then that's how I'll treat her,” a voice grated close to her ear and she shivered as he pressed against her, grabbing her hair and pulling her head back roughly for a searing kiss.

Nancy moaned softly, her legs trembling as a hand slipped between them and began stroking her, teasing her body to life while she clung desperately to the chains that bound her wrists, unable to move away.

“Already so wet,” he hissed, a hit of playfulness returning to his voice, “What's the matter, couldn't your boyfriend please you?”

“He pleases me f-fine,” she gasped as a burned finger dipped inside her, “Maybe when I wake up I'll go for round two-”

“Then let's leave him something to find,” Freddy hissed, removing himself from her.

Nancy heard the flick of the glove and tensed, biting her tongue to stop herself from digging a deeper hole.

“Ouch!” burning pain shot through her left ass cheek and she pulled away until the chains threatened to dislocate her shoulders.

Something hot and wet dripped down her leg and she cried out again when the razor slashed a second time, accompanied by the sound of laughter.

The individual lacerations quickly blurred into each other, and Nancy counted twenty small but deep cuts across her ass before he finished, leaving her red faced and wincing as the blood slipped down her thigh and onto the ground under her left foot.

“A work of art!” he laughed, smearing his hand over the fresh wounds and making her cry out, “Red suits you!”

“Aren't we supposed to have a safe word?” Nancy mumbled weakly.

Her reply came in the form of a set of teeth on the back of her neck and a hand returning to its previous ministrations.

Trapped and at the complete mercy of an immortal serial slasher that she had unwittingly turned into a green-eyed monster, Nancy had no choice but to give in to the increasingly enjoyable touches that were accompanied by the occasional growl or laugh, even finding the pain where he cut her beginning to compliment the pleasure that he was drawing forth with nothing but a single hand.

“Are you going to fuck me or what?” she gasped out eventually, when she felt herself drawing close for the third time only to have him pull away, driving her mad.

“Ha! needy bitch,” he laughed, clearly enjoying himself, “You really want this cock in you?” he licked her ear, grinding his freed cock against her ass cheeks.

“You want me to beg?” she rubbed back against him and heard a subtle groan, smirking with the knowledge that he was beginning to loose control.

“Beg...scream...” his blood coated hand slipped inwards and Nancy tensed at the sudden interest in in her ass, whimpering slightly when he slipped a finger in and began stretching her, “I'll take it all, babe,”

Her breath itched and she cried out when she felt him replace his fingers with something larger, pushing and stretching her slowly while gripping her hips to hold her still.

“Fuck...no don't-” She felt like she was going to break with the intrusion, her vision blurring over, then the sudden relaxation as he slipped backwards, bringing a new kind of pleasure forth with the motion had her moaning again.

Each thrust inwards bought a new wave of discomfort, but her body quickly became addicted to the feeling of him pulling out, screaming in anticipation for the next thrust to come so she could feel it again, and her neglected pussy fluttered with excitement, begging to be touched even a little to send her over the edge.

His movements became harder and faster, with less rhythm as he lost himself behind her and a torrent of half-legible curses fell from his twisted mouth to join her ragged moans, bouncing off the darkened walls around them in a cacophony of lurid sounds.

“P-please,” Nancy broke, finally, unable to bear the edge she was trapped on any longer, “Touch me... please-”

“There it is,” he gasped behind her, pushing deeper, “Beg me, fucking beg me!”

“Fuck- Freddy please,” it felt strange and wonderful to scream his name with the addition of her memories, and her heart gave a concerning leap that she ignored in the heat of the moment.

A cascade of entreaties filled the room as she gave in and begged, giving him his small victory in exchange for release and she screamed when he finally reached forth and caressed her lightly, growling in pleasure as he pushed deep into her ass, pumping her pull of hot liquid.

Nancy hung limply from the chains, glad for the support since her legs appeared to have temporarily detached from her body, trembling uselessly beneath her weight.

A hand came to rest beneath her chin and she raised her head slightly, coming out of her exhausted stupor with a gentle kiss.

With a swift movement Freddy touched the chains above them and she dropped heavily onto her feet, falling forwards slightly into his waiting arms.

The fluttering pressure in her chest rose again as she rested her head against him and a small smile lingered on her lips, undaunted by the multitude of aches and pains that were beginning to fight for attention now that the fun was over.

The set of razors that had been stroking down her back idly suddenly froze and she looked up wearily, feeling his body stiffen.

“What?” she frowned, following his gaze towards the corner to a pool of blood.

Freddy turned to her with a snarl, “Did you let him out?”

“What? No! I thought you did!” Nancy untangled herself from the striped sweater, “Wait... where is he then?”

“I guess he woke up,” Freddy snickered.

“He what!?”


	23. Chapter 23

Chapter twenty-Three

Nancy winced and adjusted herself on the plastic booth at the Crave-Inn, the crude carving on her ass feeling like hot glass.

She had thanked her lucky stars that Johnny was already out of bed by the time she had woken up, and was too distracted by his own hangover to notice the limp in her step or her hurried attempts to wash the blood covered bed-sheets.

The shouting from the bathroom apparently also went unnoticed, and there had been quite a lot when Nancy had turned around and looked in the mirror to find the name 'FREDDY' carved across her left cheek in deep red slashes.

Narcissist thy name is Krueger. 

After showers, coffee and a rapid scrounging around for painkillers, Nancy and Johnny had joined the others at the old diner for greasy food to ease their woes. 

To her surprise, however, they were also joined by Dickson, who bought with him the news that his friend had been admitted to hospital early that morning.

“This is the first time someones survived an attack,” he said seriously to the gathered group.

“Has he said anything yet?” Johnny asked. 

“I don’t know, the cops wouldn’t let me see him,” Dickson scoffed slightly, “But I’m going back first thing tomorrow to find out if he remembers anything.”

“This could be our best chance then,” Johnny nodded, and Nancy got the feeling she knew what he and the other boy had been talking about in hushed whispers the night before.

Would he really remember anything? Surely he’d just think of it as a confusing nightmare after a traumatic attack...

Or maybe this whole thing had to end.

A least four deaths were partially at her doorstep, and she knew there was no way Freddy would stop unless forced out of peoples heads, so it wasn ’t like asking nicely was an option.

Looking around at the frightened group, Nancy decided that as soon as she got her hands on the Hypnocil tomorrow, she would tell them the truth.

If nothing else, Johnny deserved to know what happened to his sister.

It was a (sort of) solid plan. It ticked all the boxes of morality that any other human would strive for. She would tell her friends the truth (mostly), reveal the weakness of the bad guy and with their help he would be banished to the realms of forgotten memory, unable to hurt anyone ever again and Nancy would be the unsung hero of the town, free to live her life in beautiful, peaceful, boring normality.

So why did it feel like a wedge was being driven into her chest every time she thought of it?

Sure, she had adored her so called imaginary friend when she was little, he had always been there, lurking in the shadows to talk to her, to hear her woes and offer advice, and should the need arise, he was there to kill for her.

But she was an adult now! able to look further than the selfish primal demands of a child and see that murder wasn’t a game...

“Are you ok?” Johnny asked later, as they drove home from the diner, “You’ve been really quiet all night...”

“Just thinking,” Nancy said absently, still caught in the tug of war between logic and emotions better left un-admitted. 

“About last night?” he asked nervously.

“Last night?” Nancy gave a guilty start before remembering what they had been doing before she had fallen asleep, “Oh..oh! No it’s not that,”

“Because I know we were drunk, but-”

“It’s fine, really,” she smiled a little, “I had fun... I’m just a little distracted is all...”

The car was silent for a moment as they drove through the darkened roads towards Elm street.

“We’ll catch him,” Johnny said quietly after a moment, “Whoever is doing this. We’ll make them pay.”

“I know,” Nancy replied with the slightest whisper, turning back to her reflection in the window.


	24. Chapter 24

Chapter Twenty-Four

A kind of resolute numbness has settled over Nancy during the night.

She hadn ’t slept, and her body seemed to operate on auto as she prepared herself for her appointment with Dr. Dagger at Westin Hills, taking care of things by itself while she rehearsed her story in her head both for the Doctor and, later, for Johnny and the others. 

“I’m leaving now,” she called out at the top of the stairs, “Johnny?”

A muffled noise came from her room and she followed it, sticking her head around the corner to find Johnny with his back to her.

“Hey,” she said, pulling back slightly when he jumped and spun around looking guilty, knocking over half the contents of her desktop in the process. 

“What?” he blinked, then shook his head, “Leaving?”

“Doctors appointment, remember?” she reminded him, “Are you sure you don’t want a ride to school on the way? You look a little out of it, I don’t know if you should drive,”

“I- I’m fine,” Johnny seemed to gather himself a little and followed her down the stairs to the front door, wrapping his arms tightly around her for a moment, “Stay safe...”

“I’ll be fine,” she smiled, hoping she sounded more confident than she felt. Judging by the look on her friends face, it wasn't working. 

The drive to Westin Hills Psychiatric Hospital felt like an excruciatingly drawn out episode of  d éjà vu.

A long, winding road lead out from town through a thick copes of pine, giving the sense of isolation despite its close proximity to Springwood, and Nancy slowed when she reached the iron fencing that wrapped around the ancient brick building, looking up at the church tower that served as the centerpiece for Westin even after the relegious sect had left the grounds and the property had came into the welcomingly progressive arms of the modern medical community.

Gravel crunched beneath her shoes in the silent morning as she crossed the parking lot and headed for the main doors, unable to shake the feeling of being watched from the darkened archways of the looming tower, and she breathed a sigh of relief when she stepped inside to the comforting glow of flourescent lights and recycled air.

Nancy checked in and amused herself by walking around the waiting area and looking at the black and white photographs of the hospital throughout the years, unconciously mimicing her actions from the first time she came here with her nanna.

She was halfway through reading the names beneath a photograph of a group of nuns when a voice called from the hallway and she looked up to see a woman in her late fifties smiling kindly at her.

“Nancy Chambers?” she asked, gesturing behind her when Nancy nodded, “Follow me, please,”

Nancy followed the doctor silently down the arched hallway, her footsteps muffled by a thick rug that struggled to insulate the old wooden flooring, succeding in quieting their movements just enough to allow the muffled screams and occasional laughter that echoed from the residential area. 

Nancy was shown to a small office and sat awkwardly in a small chair while the Doctor tapped at her keyboard, ostensibly pulling up medical files but more likely closing a half finished game of Majong before turning to face Nancy with a piercing gaze. 

What followed was a rather well rehearsed but poorly executed explination from Nancy as she struggled to impress the seriousness of her situation upon the Doctor, who's expression slowly changed from kindly matron to scpetical medical expert, and slipped entirely into the realms of disapproval when Nancy mentioned the particular medication by name, so that by ther time she had finished, nancy was curling her fingers anxiously and desperately wished she had a glass of water to hide behind. 

“When was the last time you slept through the night?” Dagger asked, turning back to her monitor and clicking her mouse authortiatively.

“I- the night before last?” Nancy replied, “It's not the amount of sleep that's the problem, though,”

_ Tap tap tap  _ went the keyboard. 

“Any recreational drug use?”

Nancy replied in the negative. 

_ Tap tap tap _

“And are you sexually active?”

“Does it matter?” Nancy replied, getting annoyed.

Dagger gave her a sympathetic smile but didn't press the question, instead filling the room with several more serious sounding  _taps_ before giving her mouse a final click, making Nancy jump when the printer behind her started up with a whir. 

“We don't normally prescribe this sort of thing to patients,” she said, “It's still under research and and the side effects aren't fully documented. However, I'm willing to make an exception,”

Nancy took the small slip of green paper from her now outstretched hand and looked at it, her heart dropping slightly. 

“Only two weeks?” she looked up quizzically. 

“I'm willing to give you a fortnight trial given your... unique past,” Dagger nodded, “But in the mean time I'd like to schedual you and appointment with one of our specialists here,”

Nancy gripped the paper tightly and nodded her way through the doctors magnanimous speech, agreeing to see any specialist and attend any appointment if it meant she could renew the supply, and by the time she had filled out the script at the front desk and climbed back into the safety of her car to light a smoke the sun was high in the sky, doing it's best to make the day bright and warm just to spite her mood.

The Buzzcocks blasted loudly from her car stereo in the late afternoon when Nancy finally built up the courage to return home and face Johnny and the others. 

After several hours of debate that had gone in circles, Nancy had finally swallowed one of the little pills from the orange bottle that nestled in her pocket, and she felt it slide down her throat like a lead bullet, weighing heavily in her stomach.

_Ever fallen in love, in love with someone  
You shouldn't have fallen in love with? _

“That's quite enough out of you,” she snapped at the stereo, turning the dial violently and shaking her head. 

The sun was on the verge of setting when she pulled up at her house, sitting quietly in her car for a moment before trudging up the overgrown path to the front porch. 

If she had been in a better state of mind she might have noticed the lack of lights in the darkened windows. 

So too with the higher than usual amount of cars parked around 1428 Elm.

Nancy noticed neither of these things, so it was no suprise that when she stepped into her house she didn't notice the dark figure behind the doorway.

She didn't notice the baseball bat being swung either, but she certainly felt it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ever Fallen In Love? - The Buzzcocks. Listen to it. Love it.


	25. Chapter 25

Chapter Twenty-Five

Darkness faded and awareness slowly returned to Nancy, bringing with it a sharp pain in the back of her head and the confused shouting of several voices around her.

“You were just supposed to grab her!”

“I told you I wasn't taking any chances-”

“You could have killed her!”

“Why did you even bring a bat?”

Nancy opened her eyes blearily and found herself staring down at her own lap. Her hands were tied somewhat clumsily to her sides and she looked around her own kitchen where she was apparently being held hostage.

“Who the fuck hit me?” she mumbled after a minute and her captors turned in unison.

Three pairs of eyes swivelled over to Dickson, who crossed his arms defensively, “See, she's not dead!”

“Is this a prank?” Nancy asked, looking over at Johnny, Grady and Julie-Ann, “Because if it is I have to say you guys fucking suck at them,”

“This is an interrogation!” Dickson said, slamming his fist onto the table dramatically.

“Wait, I thought we were calling it a crucible?” Grady added.

“Who cares!” Dickson replied, “The point is we're going to uncover the truth!”

“Johnny?” Nancy ignored the squabbling and turned her head to Johnny, who was standing pale but determined on the opposite side of the table.

He opened his mouth to say something, but snapped it shut again and shook his head.

“I guess I'll start,” Julie-Ann said, taking a seat, “Sorry about the... head hitting, this wasn't meant to be so erm... violent,”

“Eye for an eye!” Dickson chimed in, sitting down at the table at the end and laying the bat out on the table in what Nancy guessed was meant to be an intimidating manner.

“Alright, so here's the thing,” Julie-Ann made a brave attempt at trying to sound calm and rational, “We were able to get in and see Dickson's friend for a few moments this afternoon. He was pretty out of it, but he did say one thing. A name.”

Nancy sighed, “Let me guess, it was my name?”

“He recognised his attacker!” Dickson said triumphantly, “You were still mad about him kicking you, so you went after him just like all the others!”

“Just like... whoa wait a minute!” Nancy gasped, “I haven't killed anyone!”

“Then why did he say your name?”

“I-” Nancy thought briefly of what the boy had seen in his dreams, “Ok, give me a second, I can explain this,”

“Explain?” Dickson scoffed, “You can explain it? And can you explain every other victim that's also miraculously linked to you in some way?”

“I don't think all of-”

“Or that these killings started happening when you first moved here?!”

Dickson was becoming rather hysteric by now, which would have been funny without the tight grip he had on the baseball bat.

“Let me get this straight,” Nancy said, “You guys think I moved here and just... started killing people?”

“He said your name!”

“And well, the morning after Xander, Johnny said-” Julie-Ann looked over at Johnny who gave a stiff nod, “He said you were covered in scratches and your hands were all dirty,”

“Your name!”

“And the night Beth died, You called-”

“Called to what?” Nancy said, eyes narrowing, “I'd been trying to warn Beth the whole time! I was trying to save her!”

Something heavy landed on the table and slipped across the smooth surface to rest in front of her.

“I found this in your dresser. Our Grandmother gave it to Beth. She never even took it off to sleep.”

Nancy gaped stupidly at the necklace Johnny had thrown, realising that her friends had put two and two together only to come up with twenty-two.

“Johnny I-”

“I didn't want to believe it,” he said softly, “I've been avoiding it for awhile, but everything seems to point back to you.”

Nancy was shocked into silence. She thought Johnny would at least hear her out.

“I spoke to a guy named Barker a few days ago while I was investigating,” he continued, “Your parents don't own this place. The deed is in your name, but I didn't know why until I found these,”

A pile of papers followed the same route as the necklace and Nancy looked down at the documents that had been stashed under her bed.

“Why didn't you tell us your parents were dead?” Grady asked, leafing through the papers to find the news article.

“Because it was none of your business,” Nancy snapped, feeling more and more hurt.

“Or maybe it was because of all this!” Dickson pushed forward the medical files from her time in Westin, as well as a child's drawing of a man in a striped sweater.

“You've always been a nutter!” he said, “You killed your parents and they locked you up!”

“It was even you that suggested there was a copy-cat killer in Springwood,” Grady added.

“This is wrong,” Nancy shook her head, “I was coming to tell you the truth now, I just had to see the doctor first and get- Julie-Ann, can you grab my bag, there should be an orange pill bottle in there somewhere,” Julie-Ann obliged and added the Hypnocil to the pile of evidence, “I had to get this first! This is the key to stopping it all,”

“What is it?” Johnny asked, picking it up to read the label.

“Hypnocil, it's a dream inhibitor,”

Something clicked in Johnny's mind and he put it down slowly. “A dream inhibitor?”  
Truth time. (Mostly)

“He's real,” she said softly, “Freddy Krueger is real.”

Silence followed her statement as the faces around her varied from thoughtful, confused, pitying and condescending.

“So you're tell me,” Grady said after a pause, “That there really is a guy killing people off in their dreams?”

Nancy nodded.

“With a glove tipped with razor knives?”

Another nod.

“And you've known this whole time?”

Nancy gave a sort of apologetic half-shrug and Grady sat back in his chair, his brow furrowed.

“Look this Krueger guy might be real to you, fruit-cake,” Dickson said, “But for the rest of us in the real world, you're the one with blood on your hands.”

Nancy ignored Dickson and looked up at Johnny, her eyes beseeching, “I wanted to tell you the truth. I really did.”

“What happened to Beth?”

“She was helping me. In the beginning. That's why we were on the phone all the time! I told her about the nightmares and she was trying to make me feel better. She just thought they were from stress, but then...I was there. In my dream, or hers rather, the night it happened. I tried to stop him. I tried to save her, I really did! But I couldn't and I got pushed out and then I tried to call you to wake her up but I want quick enough!”

“And the necklace?”

“I pulled it out with me when I woke up,” Nancy said miserably, the tears in her eyes welling over and streaking her cheeks.

“And what about Xander?” Julie-Ann asked quietly.

Nancy gave a brief description before lapsing into silence.

“Holy shit...” Dickson said into the silent kitchen, “You're not lying,”

“I'm really not,” Nancy said.

“You're not lying... you actually believe all of this!” Dickson let out a sour laugh, quickly derailing any thoughts that anyone else was having that may have lead to believing the truth.

“Oh my god,” Nancy rolled her eyes, “Why are you even here?”

“I'm here because none of these pussy's were willing to face the fact that their new best friend is a psychotic murderer! It took me to piece all this shit together and judging by the way things are going, it's going to take me to put an end to you!”

“Excuse me?” Nancy raised an eyebrow, “Put an end to me?”

“Yeah what?” Julie-Ann looked up, “I mean, even if she is... crazy,” she flitted an apologetic glace at Nancy, “Shouldn't we take her to the police?”

“And tell them what? That we found a necklace and some old newspaper clippings? Use your fucking heads!”

“Yes, please do,” Nancy muttered.

“We have to kill her.”

In the brief moments that followed this declaration Nancy realised that not only was Dickson serious, but that he was also a very persuasive person when he wanted to be, and she could almost see the line drawn across the kitchen as her friends drifted to the opposite side, cajoled by their charismatic classmate and the lingering deaths of their oldest friends. Even Johnny seemed to have discounted that fact that they had been forming what could have been a very promising relationship.

Nancy didn't stand a chance.

So while Dickson convinced three other teens to help him commit murder in the name of vigilant justice, Nancy worked hard on freeing herself from the poorly tied constraints that held her to the chair.

It was a valiant effort, and she had slipped the bonds and made it to her living room before the shouts of “STOP HER!” filled the house, followed closely by thundering footsteps and a scream as someone tackled her around the knees, bringing her to the floor.


	26. Chapter 26

Chapter Twenty-Six

On the outskirts of Springwood lay the now defunct remains of an old power plant. Necessary until a few decades ago, the town council had elected to join the regional power grid of their neighbouring areas in a public statement that called it 'A practical choice that would allow Springwood to grow and flourish' and 'In no way related to any recent scandals, so please stop asking'.

This area was naturally off limits to the public, and it sported all the classic barbed wire fencing and pad locked gates that befitted an abandoned power plant, but these were usually unnecessary. Nobody ever wanted to come here.

Twin beams of light now lit up the open area that once housed various large vehicles, casting shadows where ever the powerful headlights met with a stray clump of grass straining to grow in the empty lot.

The sound of shovels scraping against the ground echoed through the air and four figures worked frantically in the light of the car, tossing mounds of lime stone and dirt into a rapidly filling hole.

An occasional sob was the only other thing to be heard from them, and when the hole was filled and the ground patted down with the back of the spades, they climbed wordlessly back into their vehicle and drove away.

Hell is many different things to different people.

For some it's a classic lake of fire and the stench of brimstone as leather-winged beasts jab and poke your writhing soul for your sins. For others, it's a frozen landscape of blood and guilt, or perhaps a monstrous looping of every regret in life.

Sometimes it's just other people.

For Nancy, hell was a narrow hole dug by people she had loved. It was a strip of cloth in your mouth to muffle your screams and the rhythmic crunching of boots on the surface above you, circling you.

Hell was the first heavy thump of earth hitting a pair of tied legs. It was the increase in darkness and the decrease in oxygen.

Worst of all, it was the feeling of utter abandonment and heartbreak that followed her soul long after it had left her buried body, and it was terrifying.

In the eternal dreamscape that lay just below the consciousness of every person in Springwood, Krueger watched the dreams of murderers with great interest before sauntering lazily across his domain to the approximate location of the one person in Springwood he _hadn't_ been guilty of murdering.

Clearly in no hurry, he paced and circled the area, tapping a blade thoughtfully against the brim of his hat.

He crouched, and bladed glove scraped across the freshly dug soil for a while before bursting through the ground and into the unmarked grave quicker than a hot knife through butter.

Deep below, trapped in hell, Nancy suddenly found herself looking at a familiar shape.

Not many people are offered a helping hand out of hell, and by now the pain of sorrow had congealed into the hardhearted weight of anger that screamed for revenge.

She took the hand.

Dirt rose up and fell away from the grave to reveal a pale face gasping for air out of sheer instinct and he stepped back.

“They murdered me!” The freshly exhumed Nancy screamed angrily, her lower half still struggling to pull free.

“Nice friends you chose,” Krueger snickered, “Now I see why you wanted to save them!”

“Oh shut up!” Nancy snarled, pulling herself out of the hole with the help of a nearby clump of grass, “This is still your fault! You know I went to _hell_? What did I ever do to end up in hell?! I mean, I tried my best to save them and they buried me alive! But no, I'm the one that goes to hell!”

“Don't be a baby, you're not the first person to go to hell, babe,” Freddy rolled his eyes when Nancy continued to rant aimlessly at the universe.

“So why not get some payback?” he said slyly when Nancy finally ran out of things to shout.

“Payback?” Nancy thought for a moment before her eyes lit up, “Oh there will be payback. They want the truth? They'll fucking get it!”

Nancy slammed her foot to the ground and the sound of a thousand doors slamming open rippled over the dreamscape like a shock-wave.

Krueger savoured it with all the joy of a concerto performance with every note in place before breaking out in laughter and grabbing Nancy roughly, pulling her close.

“Glove!” she shouted, twisting away from the blades that laced around her back before remembering she was already dead.

For the first time, the kiss that followed didn't bring with it any guilt or anxiety. There was no need to question where she stood morally or worry about a sudden blade to the throat. There was only passion, joy and the sparking of an emotion that had almost been forgotten in the depths of hell.

It was love.

Not that she would be telling Krueger that any time soon.


	27. Chapter 27

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the lack of updates! August was a very busy month for me, but I'm working hard to find time to finish this bad boy!

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Months passed in Springwood without incident. No new unexplained death or injuries plagued the town, and although people still suffered the occasional nightmare the overall atmosphere relaxed back into the typical calmness of suburban America.

Schoolyard rumours still plagued the students of Springwood high, but overall there appeared to be nothing abnormal in the works, and most importantly (To a select few students) the absence of Nancy Chambers went almost entirely unnoticed.

Whoever she had been, and whatever she had done, (they told themselves) she had severely underestimated the teens of Springwood and she had paid for it, and as the calendar progressed, their self-soothing words became reality and they moved on.

However, Time exerts little authority in dreams.

While the younger generations of Springwood finished their exams and went through the torture of College applications, Nancy Chambers was in hell.

About the time they were shopping for dresses and deciding who would make the best partner, Nancy was accepting a helping hand from a man who was both entirely to blame for her predicament, and the only person she had ever really cared about.

A week before their final Au Revoir to the middle educational system, the doors that lead to their innermost selves were being slammed violently open, leaving them vulnerable to the creatures that lurked in the darkness.

The night before prom, every student dreamed of the same thing. It made it that much easier to corral them into the same dreamscape.

Hand crafted silver stars adorned the walls of the gymnasium at Springwood High. Each point of each shining star reflected back the spinning lights of the dance floor, looking down on the mass of young people in their silken dresses and pressed shirts, all laughing and dancing under a gigantic glittering disco-ball that dominated the roof.

Nancy peered into the room through a gap in the entrance door, the smell of hors d'oeuvres falling over her and making her stomach grumble.

They were out there.

Somewhere in the centre of this booming celebration, beneath the lights and surrounded by music, the people that had murdered her congratulated themselves and all their accomplishments.

Somewhere in there, her prey awaited.

At least, this was how Nancy wanted to see the situation. Mostly though she felt tired and hungry, and the heels she had struggled to dream up were already giving her blisters.

As for prey, she knew who the real hunter here was.

He was in there too. He was everywhere.

This was his world and she could feel him waiting and watching silently for the perfect moment to appear.

Unfortunately, the perfect moment seemed to rely on Nancy doing the footwork in painful shoes, and she made a mental note to snatch up some of the mini pizza rolls before Krueger presumably covered them in blood and left her to clean up the mess.

The band finished their song and Nancy stepped forward, pushing the double doors wide and stepping in just in as the crowd gave a few cheers and scattered applause, parting for her as she walked through the candle-lit tables and made for a cluster of familiar faces on the edge of the dance floor.

Reaching her mark, she reached up and tapped a shoulder.

“Hey handsome,” Nancy said cheerfully, “Aren’t you going to ask me to dance?”

Johnny’s face went from startled, to happy, then settled on confused while his sleeping brain raced to remind him that Nancy shouldn’t be there.

“Nancy?” he looked down at her prom dress and then around at the other people nearby, clearly lost, “What are you doing here?”

“It’s prom, silly,” she smiled, “I’m here to celebrate with my friends,”

“But you can’t, I mean you’re-” Johnny paused, eyeing her suspiciously, “Is this a dream?”

“It is,” she nodded, “So are we going to dance or what?”

“Nancy?!” a voice cut in before Johnny could reply and the rest of the group spun around to look at her.

Nancy smiled innocently at Grady, Julie-Ann and Dickson.

“You look er...well,” Julie-Ann trailed off lamely.

“No fucking way,” Dickson snarled, taking a step back , “We killed you, you can't be here!”

“It's just a dream,” Johnny said, sounding dazed, “It's all just a dream. I'm going to wake up in a minute...”

“Wait,” Grady frowned at Johnny, “ _You're_ going to wake up? Should I be the one waking up, I mean, it's my dream-”

“It's not your dream,” Dickson said authoritatively, his bravado returning with this revelation, “It's mine, and I'm going to kill this bitch just like every other night, and I'll keep doing it until she's gone for good!”

“Nancy,” Johnny turned to her, “You said this was a dream. Who's dream is it?”

“It's everyone's!” She smiled, “Well, at least, everyone who's here is dreaming, anyway. Actually, it's my dream,”

“I think I've heard enough,” Grady said, grabbing Julie-Ann by the arm and heading for the exit, “C'mon, let's get the hell out of here,”

Before they were halfway across the room, a grinding sound filled the air and a heavy set of bars slammed down from the roof above the door causing several people to scream.

“You can't leave yet,” Nancy said, thoroughly enjoying herself, “You'll miss the big finale!”

“Nancy what-” Johnny was cut of by several more slams, bars closing down violently over the darkened windows.

The chatter that had buzzed through the room died away and Nancy felt their attention fully shift to her, their eyes following her nervously as she strolled away from Johnny and climbed the small stairs up to the stage that was set for the crowning of a king and queen.

“Ladies and Gentlemen!” she shouted into the microphone, looking down at the confused crowd, “Fellow students of Springwood! Welcome to your graduation night!”


	28. Chapter 28

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry boo's and ghouls, turns out Spooktober is even more busy than last month, but haven't given up on this bad boy yet, so keep those eyes peeled for new chapters!

Chapter Twenty-Eight

The ground shook, rattling dinnerware from tables and twisting itself below the feet of the screaming students that pressed themselves to the walls of the gymnasium for what little safety it offered.

“Nancy you don't have to do this!” Johnny shouted angrily from the crowd below, his voice half-drowned by the disco ball as it crashed from the ceiling sending shards of silver glass across the warped floorboards.

Nancy ignored him and turned her head to the side, feeling more than hearing the approaching roar from below.

“-just let them go! You're already dead, it's over!”

“Sorry to burst your bubble,” Nancy said into the microphone, “But death isn't the end. Our parents and grandparents learned that the hard way, now it's time for our generation to learn it,”

“You want revenge, fine!” Johnny shouted back over a fresh wave of screams as the ground buckled again and flickering lights poured from the gaps, “So take me and the others!” he gestured to the other three that clung to the wall behind him, “Leave the rest of the town alone!”

Nancy watched the lights become brighter and smiled, tossing the microphone aside, “You wanna know a secret, Johnny?” she said, sitting down on the edge of the stage, “I lied,”

“I knew it!” Dickson shouted, “I knew all that dream demon, knife glove, Krueger nonsense-”

“Oh, shut up,” Nancy waved a hand at him dismissively, “All that was true. No, I lied about this being my dream.”

“Well who's is it then?” Johnny asked.

The ground split down the centre of the dance-floor with and ear-splitting crunch, the ends of splintered wood peeling backwards and filling the room with violent flashing lights. Above the screams, cold laughter echoed, and before the room could fully react, a figure launched from the depths, landing gracefully on his feet.

Nancy took a moment to appreciate the impressive silhouette, framed perfectly on a backdrop of shifting lights and stray tongues of flame, the tip of each razor clearly visible.

“Freddy's back!” he shouted gleefully at the frozen crowd, and a girl unlucky enough to be closest bore the brunt of the first slash, the skin on her face opening easily under the force of the glove, A glimpse of red flesh beneath her perfect make-up was all Nancy saw before the girl collapsed in a bloody heap.

The slump of the girl broke the hypnotic spell, sending hundreds of people screaming and flailing into the barred windows and doors.

“You're all my children now!” the shout rang out over the terrified crowd as the double doors swung open and people flooded out, trampling those few that had fallen beneath the weight of others pushing behind them.

Nancy watched happily from the sidelines, munching idly on a plate of abandoned spring rolls and listening to the fresh cries of panic when the escapees found themselves stumbling through a maze of pipes she had come to know well.

Her job was basically done. She had set the demon loose on Springwood and now she could sit back and enjoy the show.

There was no rush, after the first few victims he would slow down and take pleasure in the lingering fear, and Nancy had been promised front row seats to the deaths of her murderers.

It was amazing, really.

One small misdeed, one act of vigilante justice, and the repercussions were still being felt decades later. The law hadn't stopped Freddy from doing what he wanted. Death himself couldn't stop him, and it had only fuelled his passion for murder and mayhem.

Nancy knew she had never really stood a chance at stopping him, and now, she didn't want to.

The silence on the catwalks above the boiler room were broken by the occasional scream as those lost in the maze below ran aimlessly into billowing pipes, other victims, and eventually the waiting arms of Krueger as he stalked them gleefully, picking off stragglers here and there and testing the limits of each individuals fear.

Nancy padded quietly above them, stopping here and there to admire the patches of tailored fear that Freddy seemed to create out of nothing. Here a room of spider-like creatures tore at the meaty remains of something that had once been human, over the wall and in another nightmare, a thick stretch of endless fog obscured a lone figure.

So many fears, so many nightmares, and he could create them all. Nancy supposed his cocky attitude wasn't entirely unwarranted.

A fresh scream caught her attention and Nancy skittered over the swaying walkways to a spiralling metal staircase.

She sat down on the top rung to watch the show.

“What's the matter, lover boy?” he whispered, a single razor sliding down the metal wall with a screech, “Shouldn't you be rescuing your little damsel in distress?”

Grady darted to the left, his movement immediately countered by the dream demon slowly cornering him.

Visible over Freddy's shoulder, the face of Julie-Ann was slowly becoming obscured by the rippling scales of an enormous red and green python.

“let her go!” Grady's voice cracked, his girlfriends screams dying under the crushing pressure of the snake as its head rose above them, eyes glinting in a burned skull.

Another step, another counter, and another laugh.

“Let's play a game,” Freddy purred, flicking his glove, “If you can get past me, I'll call off the beast and you can wake up from this nightmare,”

Grady's eyes darted from the glove to the pile of scales and licked his lips, his head jolting in a nervous nod.

“But you have to let us both go,” he added quickly, “Me and Julie, we both have to wake up!”

“I'm a man of my word,” Freddy chuckled, lowering his stance in preparation.

Grady took a deep breath and seized his chance at freedom, feigning a left before darting right and running.

His elation lasted mere moments before he found himself confronted by an ever expanding line of Freddy's, each one laughing and slashing out at him.

“Red Rover Red Rover!” thousands of voices echoed mockingly about the room, “Grady cross over! Ahaha!”

“You bastard!” Grady shouted, searching for an opening, “You said you'd let us go!”

Laughter mixed with the chant of Red Rover and Grady screamed desperately before running head-long into the wall of razor gloves, his eyes locked on the glinting fangs of the serpent beyond the line as its jaw unhinged and it swooped down towards a swath of pink hair.

He almost made it.

In fact, a good three quarters of him made it. Three of his fingers even made it to the the snake, but the rest of him lay scattered in ribbons on the floor in front of a pair of blood soaked boots.

“You're out!” Freddy cackled, kicking a clump of hair and scalp before turning his head upwards to grin at the spectator clapping her hands slowly at the top of the stairs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Red Rover" is something we used to play in primary school, I'm not sure of its popularity outside of Australia (I'm not sure of anything outside of my own house) but if you aren't familiar with it, it's only a google search away :)


	29. Ch 29

Chapter Twenty-Nine

“Enjoying the show?” Krueger smirked, looking up at her and grinning with pride.

Nancy tapped her finger on her cheek in mock thoughtfulness and strolled down to meet him, taking care not to slip in the blood and fall face first on the way.

“Bonus points for the children's game,” she said, “but don't you think the snake is a bit of a cliché?”

Freddy gasped, grabbing his chest and looking hurt, “The snake is a classic!”

Nancy rolled her eyes and looked around at the carnage. The blood was still warm beneath her bare feet.

“So are they really dead?” she asked, “Like, in the waking world as well?”

“Dead as door nails,” he grinned, “And their souls...” he reached up and ran a blade down the front of his sweater, tearing it open easily.

Beneath the burned and puckered skin that latticed his chest, Nancy saw the ghoulish semblance of faces twisted in agony, pushing and writhing with mouths open in silent screams.

“There's something you don't see every day...” she said, recoiling slightly, “Their not... going to be there forever now, are they?”

Freddy cackled, “Their souls will always be mine,”

“Okay but the faces are a bit...creepy,”

Freddy grinned and took a step towards her, laughing when she backed up quickly, arms outstretched to keep balance.

“Knock it off,” she snapped when he feigned towards her again, “Don't you have a job to do?”

“I think I've earned a break,” he replied, taking a running start towards her and sliding over the bloodied floor with all the ease of a professional ice-skater.

Nancy covered her eyes with her hands and let out an involuntary squeal. She didn't really care about souls, but the myriad of faces pushing out from his chest and stomach were starting to make her nauseous.

A warm hand stroked against her cheek and she peered out from between her fingers to find his face inches from hers. His eyes glowing brighter than ever. She chanced a look downwards to find the sweater fully repaired.

“Enjoying yourself?” she snapped, slapping his shoulder.

“Oh I am, Nancy,” he purred in reply, “And the fun is only just beginning,”

Nancy slipped her hands over his shoulders and leaned in close, breathing in the smell of ash and blood.

“You're right,” she pressed close to his ear and whispered, “You still have a lot of work before I'll be satisfied,” she felt his laughter against her cheek and revelled in the way he leaned into her, his hands slipping around her waist.

“Don't worry, Freddy doesn't disappoint,”

“Are you sure you're up to it? They all need to die before sunrise, you know,”

A hot, wet tongue sipped up her neck, followed by the grazing of teeth on her ear and she shivered.

“Oh I've got the stamina to go all night, babe,”

Nancy couldn't resist a snort of laughter, immediately cut off by his mouth pressing hotly to her own and she sighed, feeling the blades on her back press into her skin and deciding that death did have some advantages.

“What the actual _fuck_ is this?!”

Nancy slipped slightly in the blood and grabbed tightly to Freddy's sweater as she turned.

Pale faced and out of breath, Dickson, Johnny and three other terrified Springwood kids looked back at her wearing different expressions of fear and disgust.

“Aha! Looks like we've got an audience!” Freddy's face split into a grin.

“That's just sick...” Dickson muttered, his eyes locked to the bladed glove graving her back.

“What's that?” Freddy cocked his head, “Sound's like we've got a volunteer from the audience! Well step on up kid, don't be shy!”

Nancy gave a shout of indignation as he shoved her carelessly to the side, sending her slipping across the bloodied floor to stumble against the rusted metal wall.

“No thanks ass-hole,” She heard Dickson reply, “I'm not interested in freak shows, but if it's a fight you want-” he bought his arm out from behind his back to reveal a heavy looking piece of metal pole, “Why don't we see what that those pussy fingernails can do against a real man!”

What he lacked in brains, Dickson certainly made up for in sheer force of will and brute strength, and Nancy watched with bated breath as he lunged at Krueger with a shout, swinging the pole with a surprising amount of precision.

Dickson parried three swipes of the glove, catching a painful forth to the upper leg and Freddy let out a bark of laughter, only to have the metal pole slam downwards into his skull.

Naturally, Freddy held the home field advantage, and Nancy knew he was just toying with Dickson, letting him believe he had a chance, because at any moment he could craft and control the environment around them, but this didn't stop her from wincing every time Dickson landed a successful blow.

Unnoticed at the edge of the fight, four figures positioned themselves, gripping makeshift weapons in their hands and waiting for a signal.

Dickson reeled from a glancing blow to the face and spun around, catching his opponent in the ribs and causing him to double over, “NOW!” he shouted, and Nancy barely had time to register what was happening before a broken piece of pike fence was shoved forcefully through Krueger's back and out his chest.

Nancy screamed along with his growl of pain as another came through his leg and a third through the gloved right arm, effectively pinning the monster in place.

“Time to die, freak!” Dickson panted, wiping blood from his cheek and raising his makeshift club.

His dramatic victory was cut short by something fast, strong, and very pissed off tackling him from halfway across the room.

The room filled with shouts ans screams as a blur of fists rolled across the room, Nancy punching, kicking and biting anything she could reach while Johnny and the three others tried to pull her from Dickson.

“It's over, Nancy!” she heard him shout as she was pulled bodily from Dickson, who immediately sucker punched her in the gut when he rose, “You chose the wrong side and you lost!”

Nancy kicked backwards at his shins, panting heavily. Apparently being dead didn't mean she was completely immune from pain or exhaustion.

“It's not over till you're all dead!” she growled, “Freddy's gonna tear you all to pieces and I'm going to fucking love watching it!”

“You're not watching shit,” Dickson spat out some blood at her feet, “We killed you once and trust me, I'm very happy to do it again. I'll kill you and your stupid Springwood Slasher as many times as it takes to get out of this place,”

“Good fucking luck,” Nancy laughed, “You're all Elm Street kids now,”

Laughter, low and threatening, filled the room. Lights flickered and flames burst from the walls and floors, causing the group that held her captive to jump and scatter backwards.

Nancy watched as a silhouette rose from the ground behind Dickson, grabbing the impaling metal that jutted from his body and sliding them out of his flesh with ease, tossing them to the floor with a clatter.

“Kill her!” Dickson shouted angrily, swinging his metal club and catching Nancy on the side of the head, sending her falling from Johnny's grip to the floor, “Kill them both!”

Nancy whimpered and curled up on the blood-soaked cement, clutching her throbbing head and fighting off the blackness on the edges of her vision.

There were, shouts, screams and the sound of metal screeching against metal mixed with laughter around her, then rapid footsteps that slowly faded away, leaving nothing but silence. 


	30. Chapter 30

Chapter Thirty

An unexpectedly gentle hand touched her head, stroking through her hair and taking with it the throbbing pain in her skull, leaving her lightheaded as she opened her eyes and sat up.

“Ugh... why didn't you tell me we could still get hurt?”

“One hit to the skull and you're already bitching,” Freddy scoffed, sitting down next to her and resting the twitching blades idly on his knee, “Nobody told you to throw your hat into the ring, you're lucky I don't have to resurrect your soul all over again! You really want to go back to hell that bad?”

“Not me you idiot, I'm talking about you!” She snapped, recoiling slightly at the idea of ending up back in hell, “I thought you were just putting it on to mess with them! If I knew you were actually getting hurt I would have jumped in sooner!”

“Aww, how sweet,” he laughed, “The brand new undead is going to jump to my rescue! Haha, you wouldn't have lasted two seconds kid, It take a lot of power and skill to fight like me,”

Nancy rolled her eyes, “Don't flatter yourself too much...” she chanced a peak at his chest, checking for the hole that the pike should have left and finding nothing but the usual dirty sweater, “Are you really okay?”

Freddy cocked his head and eyes her curiously, “Why do you care so much?”

Nancy narrowed her eyes and tried to hide the flush on her cheeks, “I just want to make sure you can finish the job. I want those idiots dead!”

“Such a lust for bloodshed,” Freddy grinned, leaning in close, “Is that all you want?”

“Are murder and sex the only things you ever think about?”

Instead of replying, Nancy found herself pulled easily into his lap and she shook her head, laughing.

“I have a few other things on my mind,” he whispered, stroking her cheek.

“Like a bath?” Nancy raised an eyebrow, taking in the blood, dirt and whatever else that had pretty much covered her body.

Freddy seemed to be debating something, his red eyes flicking from her face to the room around them.

“Whatever you're thinking, you can just save it for later,” Nancy scolded him and rose shakily to her feet, “We still have work to do,”

“What's the rush babe?” he shrugged, still sitting casually at her feet, “Even if they wake up now, they have to sleep again soon,”

“Yeah... except I kinda' told them about the Hypnocil right before they offed me, so-”

Nancy paused mid sentence, quailing under his suddenly furious gaze. She didn't even get a chance to recover before he disappeared from sight without a single word. No shouts or laughter, no flames...just gone.

“Oh come on- I'm sorry!” she shouted into the darkness, getting no reply.

“Such a baby...” she muttered, picking her way across the slippery floor and out into the maze of pipes to try and catch up, “Not like I ever got an apology for getting me killed or anything...”

Navigating back the way she came, Nancy eventually found herself in her old basement and trudged up the stairs into her home.

She hadn't been back since the night she was murdered, and she wondered if the house looked any different in the waking world. Freddy had told her that her disappearance had gone unnoticed, reading the dreams of Springwood as easily as a newspaper to glean information, so she doubted that anything had changed.

Nancy wandered over to the front door and peered outside, glumly imagining her house sitting empty while her body mouldered in the ground, rotting and falling apart until both her and the house were nothing but dust, and nobody would mourn the loss of either.

A clump of grave-dirt fell from her hair to the floor and she sighed, holding up her hands to see the bruised ring around her wrists where she had been held by rope.

“A snapshot of the moment I took my last breath,” she muttered to herself, “At least they didn't burn me too,”

Nancy left through the front door and made her way down Elm Street, walking without any particular goal.

There was no way she could navigate the dreamscape all alone, so there was no point trying to find the all powerful dream demon, and his sudden furious departure had left her feeling rather melancholy, a feeling heightened by her grief over her own demise and the realisation that, without Freddy, she truly was alone.

“Being a revenant sucks,” she muttered, kicking at some leaves dismally.

The dreamscape flashed and flickered around her as she walked. One moment it was a bright, sunny day, the next it was a snowy winters night. Lightening flickered over the sky constantly, and everything joined together smoothly no matter how out of place it was and Nancy gave up quickly on trying to make sense of what she was seeing, simply taking in the shapes and colours until she found herself outside of a familiar building.

Westin Hills stood tall and proud against the night sky, it's windows dark and empty, gazing back at her like a stone monster. Stone crunched beneath her feet just as it had in the parking lot the day she had visited, and she instinctively looked up at the church tower, remembering the feeling of being watched.

Above her, in the top window of the abandoned wing, a figure in white looked back at her, it's features unreadable in the dark.

“What the...” Nancy squinted up at the figure. It didn't look like someone dreaming, and Freddy never mentioned anyone else occupying the dreamscape, so she could only assume it was the soul of some victim.

Curious, Nancy headed for the boarded up door and ducked through a gap in the rotting wood, cursing at the obscene amount of spiderwebs that covered every inch of the cluttered room.

Winding her way through the stacks of tables, old wheelchairs and other paraphernalia, she turned a corner and found herself in an old chapel.

Remembering the photographs she had seen in the waiting room, Nancy realised this must have been the church that the nun's had used when Westin was first built, but she couldn't see why this room would be lit with candles or freshly dusted. There was even evidence that someone had swept the aisle between the pews, and Krueger didn't strike her as religious type.

A sound caught her attention and she ducked instinctively behind a pew, poking her head over the top to look out at the pulpit where the figure in white suddenly stood, immobile with its head bowed.

“Err... Hello?” Nancy called from the back of the chapel.

The figure lifted it's head to reveal a sharp face beneath a white wimple and Nancy gasped, realising that the figure was a nun.

“Hello Nancy Chambers,” the nun said softly, her hands still clasped tightly in prayer, “I've been waiting to speak with you,”


	31. Chapter 31

Chapter Thirty-one

Nancy approached the white nun cautiously, stopping a few feet away from the pulpit to look up at her.

On closer inspection, she was quite old, and gave off an aura of exhaustion, as though just standing upright was almost too much for her.

“Who are you?” Nancy asked, “Why do you know my name?”

“My name is Sister Mary Helena, and I've been watching you for a long time,” she smiled softly down at Nancy, “I've come to offer you help,”

“What kind of help?” Nancy asked suspiciously. She'd seen a lot of weirdness in the last few days, but the nun was a whole new level for her.

“Your soul teeters on the brink of damnation, my child,” she replied sadly, “But there is a way to save it, and end the evil that has plagued this town since long before you were born. You were bought into this battle against your will, but your actions have led you further and further from the light, and now it is time to end this nightmare once and for all,”

“You're talking about Freddy?” Nancy was genuinely shocked, she had no idea who this woman was, but she didn't like her tone, “You want me to end Freddy?”

A slight frown marred the sister's face at the name and her smile faltered, “The son of a hundred maniacs,” she said almost to herself, “A monster made by the perfect storm of nature and nurture. That creature's soul has avoided judgment for far too long.”

“look, I don't know if you've noticed,” Nancy replied, “But I'm kinda on his side these days. I mean, my soul already went to hell so I'm pretty sure it's not 'teetering' so much as already fully damned, and in case you're ever watching gaze missed it, Freddy was the one that rescued me!”

“That monster lead you down the path to hell!” Sister Mary Helena snapped, her body going rigid, “He has twisted and tricked you into doing his wicked bidding!”

“Well if you wanted to help so bad, then why didn't you show up earlier?” Nancy snapped back sourly, “You know, _before I was murdered!_ ”

“His hold was too tight, even then!” Sister Mary insisted, “It is only at this moment, in the final hour of the battle that his reach is spread thin by greed and the light is able o reach you! You must accept your task and end this madness! Accept the light into you and use it to destroy this evil, or your soul will burn in hell along with his own!”

“Good!” Nancy shouted back up at her, “I don't give a fuck what happens to this town or anyone in it! And if we do end up back in hell, then I'll spend an eternity breaking us out!”

Sister Mary Helena paused and looked down at her sadly, “Why would you choose this, child?”

“Because I love him!” Nancy shouted before she had a chance to think, leaving a painful silence in the wake of the words that echoed in the old chapel.

“I- I love him,” she said again quietly, testing out the words on her mouth, “I think I've always loved him, and I'm tired of fighting the idea,”

The nun's hands unclasped and came to rest on the banister in front of her. She somehow looked smaller than before, as though Nancy's words had sapped what little energy she had left.

“You would choose pain and damnation, the deaths of hundreds of innocents... for love?”

Nancy sighed, “I can't change who or what he is, and I'm not going to make excuses... but I've made my choice, I'm staying with him.”

Sister Mary Helena made a small noise between a laugh and a sob, her head bowing slightly, “Then you are a stronger woman than I,” she whispered before looking directly at Nancy, “Love him then, child. Stay with him, if you can. But be prepared to suffer,”

“I've been to hell already Sister, It doesn't scare me,”

The candles that flickered in the chapel dimmed slightly, and Nancy had to squint to make out the outline of the white woman above her.

“A brave sentiment, but that's not what I meant child. Fred Krueger is a monster of immeasurable cruelty and, love him as you may, you must know he could never love you in return,”

The candles flickered out before Nancy could reply, plunging the chapel into darkness, and when her eyes adjusted, it was to find herself alone in a derelict room filled with dust and cobwebs and the lingering echo of a sad voice in her head.

It was almost dawn in the waking world before the few remaining sleepers that hadn't perished or woken arrived at the old chapel in the abandoned wing of Westin Hills to find a solitary figure sitting on the dais at the front of the room, her hair occasionally loosing grave-dirt on the floor while she stared off into nothing.

“It's Nancy!” Johnny's familiar voice gasped, pulling her attention to the small group that had wandered in.

Dickson was in the lead, still clasping a metal pipe in his hands, with Johnny just behind him and two more stragglers peering over his shoulder.

“Good, time to end this,” Dickson said grimly, stepping forward. With no time for her to react, Nancy found herself held by the arms by the two extras, pinning her to her spot on the dais with Dickson looming above.

“You're going to kill me again?” she asked sarcastically, “It didn't work last time, what makes you think it will now?”

Dickson answered by raising the metal pipe and bringing it down hard on the side of her head, causing her to cry out in pain.

“Strike one!” Nancy laughed, gritting her teeth to hide the pain, “You'll have to do better than that,”

Again the metal swung, again a sickening thump filled the room as it collided with her skull, this time sending her reeling to the side.

The two holding her dug their fingers in tight, and through the blinding pain Nancy glimpsed Johnny standing back, his eyes turned to the window, unwilling to watch.

“Strike two,” Nancy managed to gasp out.

Dickson adjusted his grip and raised his arms over his shoulder, his face red with anger, “Say goodnight, monster!” he spat, throwing all his weight into the hit only to find his weapon no longer wanted to move.

His gaze traveled up the pipe to find four glinting blades resting over the metal, a leather glove grasping it firmly.

“Sorry I'm late, kids!” Krueger chuckled, pulling the pipe from Dickson's shaking hands and tossing it aside, “You wouldn't believe how busy it's been tonight! Nancy, looks like you started the party without me!”

Freddy darted forward, lashing out at the two boys holding her down. One dashed away, but the other was too slow and let out a hideous wail, stumbling backwards and grasping a bloodied stump in shock.

Nancy looked down at the severed hand still clinging to her arm and brushed it off like an offensive insect.

“Hand's to yourself kid!” Freddy snapped gleefully, striking again and slicing through the screaming boy's chest, leaving him to curl in a bloodied heap on the floor.

Chaos erupted in the tiny chapel.

The remaining three ran for the door only to find it bolted shut, and they scattered again as the demon pursued them through the maze of pews, clambering over them in a panic while the glove swung wildly, finally catching the boy that Nancy didn't recognize in the leg as he tried to crawl away out of sight.

Blood poured out from under his failed hiding place and his screams were quickly cut short.

“Nancy please,” she heard a whisper from behind and she turned slowly from the massacre, holding her aching head to see Johnny crouched low behind the ceremonial shrine.

“I know we fucked up. We hurt you, and no amount of apologies can change that. I can't ask you to forgive me, but if there's any part of you left that's human... any piece of the Nancy that we knew and loved, you'll let us go,”

Nancy took a deep breath and stood up. Johnny watched her walk over apprehensively, and the look of relief on his face when she held her hand out to him was almost comical.

He took it gratefully and rose to his feet.

“Thank you,” he smiled, and Nancy felt a twinge in her chest. Long ago, in a different place, that smile had made her heart melt.

“There is one small part of me that isn't filled with hatred,” she said softly, leaning in close to whisper. His breath on her neck was warm and his hand curled tighter around hers.

Her eyes flickered from his face to something in the darkness behind him and she smiled.

“But it doesn't belong to you,”

The blade sliced almost silently across his neck, leaving a trail of crimson in its wake. The grip on her hand loosened, and realization crossed briefly over Johnny's features before he fell away, leaving Nancy smiling at the monster behind him.

Freddy flicked a droplet of blood from the razor and looked down at the dead boy.

“I can't believe you liked that guy,” he sneered.

“Focus,” she replied, ignoring his quip, “Two down, one to go,”

Dickson froze where he was in the middle of the isle as two pairs of eyes landed on him.

“Time to end this,” Freddy smirked, strolling almost lazily down the steps to his prey. The glove rose one final time, blades shining in the light from the moon outside.

When they came down, they met only air.

“What the hell?” Nancy blinked, one moment Dickson had been standing there, the next he was gone. The faint echo of an alarm rang through the chapel.


	32. Chapter 32

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I....It's smut. It's just smut lol

Chapter Thirty-Two

Alarm clocks beeped and rang throughout the dreamscape, and Nancy felt the exodus of those that survived like a rush of cold air.

“I think the last of them just woke up,”

Freddy looked around the room, cocking his head as though listening or feeling for something, “There's always tomorrow night,” he said softly, a satisfied look on his face.

“Do they always fight back so hard?” Nancy asked, rubbing her head.

“You're not supposed to let them hit you,” he sneered, sauntering slowly around the isle, “Why the fuck did you come here anyway?” he asked suddenly.

“Well you ditched me,” Nancy shrugged, “I wandered around for a bit and then- Oh, that reminds me, who's the Nun?”

“The what?” she sneered back at her.

“The Nun in the white habit,” Nancy replied, unfazed, “She was at the top of the tower and called me in here, she said her name was Mary-Helena-”

A look of unfiltered fury crossed the dream demons face and Nancy snapped her mouth shut. “WHERE?!” he snarled furiously.

“I- she left!” Nancy pointed to the dais where Mary-Helena had stood, “She was there and she tried to get me to fight you, she called you the son of a hundred-”

A hand gripped her hair tightly and she found herself looking in to a pair of blazing red eyes, “Don't say those words,” he growled, and Nancy knew this was far more serious than their usual ill-tempered banter.

“What else did she tell you?”

Nancy chose her words carefully before replying, “She said she's been watching me for a while. That she could only talk to me now because you were so busy with all the other dreamers. She wanted me to fight you. I refused.”

“Refused?” he narrowed her eyes at her and Nancy knew he was finding it hard to believe she had refused salvation when it had been handed to her on a silver platter.

“Yeah, I told her exactly where she could stick her helping hand and she scampered off. Are you going to tell me who she was and why she's been watching?”

Freddy's eyes moved around the ceiling above them, “Nosy bitch,” he muttered darkly before turning back to Nancy, “So why not accept her help?”

“Well for starters she was very rude,” Nancy replied, “and secondly, you really need to work on your trust issues, because this whole night,” she gestured around at the bodies that lay scattered on the floor, “Was just as much me as it was you! And I don't regret a second of it, so you can just wipe that judgmental look off your damn face!”

The dream demon studied her for a moment, and the vicious snarl softened slightly when she held his gaze steadily.

“Tonight was a new record,” he smirked, “The whole town will be feeling it for years to come, and their fear will only make it easier...”

The chapel warped, the walls heaving inwards and twisting until they were standing in the familiar boiler room, it's furnace flickering with light.

Nancy knew she wasn't going to get a straight answer about the Nun, and she decided she didn't really care. Even her words of warning seemed less hurtful in the warmth of the boiler room, and Nancy brushed them aside, leaning in and wrapping her arms over his shoulders.

Krueger claimed her lips like he had earned the grand prize of the night, a satisfied growl leaving his throat when he pulled back and pushed hard on her shoulders sending her reeling over backwards with a scream to land on a soft bed that hadn't been there before.

“That's not funny!” Nancy glared at him, raising herself on her elbows, “Is this what I have to look forward to for an eternity?”

“Oh there's more than that,” he purred, crawling up the bed and leaning in close over her.

Nancy stood her proverbial ground, leaning up to meet the twisted visage of his face. Before, when she had dreamed and been close to him she had always held the knowledge that, with a single slip of the finger, he could end her life, and it made her nervous, her caution and occasional bursts of terror only serving to fuel the glee on the dream demons face.

Now Nancy found herself rather lacking in mortality and the fears that came with it, and even though the night had seemed to last forever, she found herself feeling braver and more awake than she had ever felt when she was alive.

With a smirk she leaned in close, brushing aside his attempt to re-capture her mouth and letting her tongue slide along his jawline, feeling the raised scar tissue and tracing the patterns until she reached his exposed neck. Without warning, Nancy latched onto the warm flesh and bit down.

Her spontaneous attack was met with a raspy groan that sent a wave of heat through her limbs, and she felt his left hand slide around to pull her closer.

“I think I like that noise,” she purred, rolling with his weight until she was above him, “I wonder what other noises I can find,”

Hands, one bare, the other gloved and bladed, traced down her sides to grip her thighs.

“Ahh, Nancy's got a taste for screams now!” he crowed, kneading her thighs in anticipation, “But do you really think you can take me on?”

Nancy answered by slipping her hands under the dirty striped sweater and stretching out, sliding her fingers over his stomach and up to his chest, pulling the grimy material with her so she could get better access.

Her ears picked up a deliberately stifled groan from above her and she took her chance, biting and licking over the sensitive looking contracture scars until she reached her goal and her teeth skimmed over his nipple and she felt his breath hitch, but he remained stubbornly silent.

She knew he was doing it deliberately just to annoy her, she'd heard more than the usual range of noises from him in the past, but it was a game now. A challenge, and she wanted more than anything in that moment to seem him loose, to come undone under her hands and mouth.

It would be a great way to start eternity.

She worked her way south at an agonizingly slow pace, feeling his impatience and giving a sharper nip whenever he grew restless and tried to speed her up, keeping herself entertained with memorizing each raised and depressed point on his body, until she finally shuffled herself down between his legs entirely, toying with the tattered hem of his denim trousers.

“There is such a thing as taking too long,” she heard a mutter from above her and grinned, unzipping and tugging down the material, freeing his aching cock from its confines.

Despite his chiding noises and impatient writhing, she had clearly had some effect on him, and she heard his breathing increase as she finally neared the point he had been waiting for.

A hand crept around the back of her head and she felt his fingers rest cautiously in her hair; steady, but hesitant to apply pressure in case she backed away just to annoy him.

Nancy turned her gaze upward and felt her nerve waver slightly when she found him gazing back down at her, his eyes hooded and shining with lust.

Without breaking eye contact, she eased herself down slowly, her hand finding his base and holding it to accommodate the angle.

His mouth opened slightly and there was a sharp intake of breath when she flicked out her tongue and licked a wide trail up his length, still watching his face and reveling in the small changes in his usually fierce expression, and when she reached the tip and took him fully in her mouth, she saw the struggle in his eyes and felt his hand tremble in its grip.

Relaxing her jaw and taking a steady breath, she took him further, her lips sliding down until her nose was almost touching his pelvis, and as she moved down his head fell back and she smirked in triumph, watching the red of his eyes roll back as his eyes closed and he let out a defeated moan.

Satisfied for the moment, Nancy turned her full attention to giving him what he wanted, and she worked slowly at first, letting her tongue and lips do most of the work until the hand in her hair begged for more control, and she relaxed, allowing him to set a faster pace, his hips rising to meet her mouth in deep thrusts.

His every breath and movement caused her heart to tighten and melt and she found herself rubbing her thighs together as she worked, becoming more aroused with every soft moan and sigh until she knew she would go mad if she didn't get some attention of her own, so with a mental sigh of regret, she pushed herself upwards and pulled away.

“W-what the fuck?” she heard annoyance and desperation in his tone and brushed aside his hand when he tried to pull her back down.

“Be patient for once in your damned life,” she replied, crawling back to peel away the tattered remains of her clothing and toss them to the floor, glad that the flickering fires of the boiler room made the air warm on her skin.

Catching on, Freddy grinned and snapped his fingers, causing his own clothing to slide away without so much as lifting a leg.

“Show off,” Nancy muttered, throwing her thighs over his hips to pin him to the mattress.

His skin beneath her was hot to the touch, the air was filled with the acrid scent of ashes that she had come to love and she found herself paused in the moment; taking in the view, as it were.

Cold metal traced idly up her arm, crossing her neck before moving down between her breasts. She felt the sharpness, saw the glint of light on the razored edge, but the touch was so soft, so precise, that it didn't leave a single mark in its wake.

Without a word, she shifted her hips and felt him press against her, the wetness from her own anticipation leaving no resistance when she lowered herself with a a heady sigh, feeling him stretch her out deliciously until she was flush with his pelvis.

A hand rested lightly on each side of her hips, not seeking control, simply touching and stroking while she let herself adjust, her head rolling back when she finally raised herself, beginning to move.

“-fuck...”

She lifted her head and looked down at the strangled word, almost laughing at the expression on the once terrifying monsters face. It was rapturous, the glint of red that glowed in the semi-darkness from his gaze shifting up and down as she moved, following first her hips, then lingering on her breasts before darting up to her face to give a sly wink.

Her rhythm increased and she felt his thrusts rise to meet her, setting her on fire with need as she took him deeper and harder, his cock hitting her just right until she felt like she was going to die all over again, her body aflame against his, melting together in the heat.

She moaned again and her voice caught in her throat when he thrust up forcefully, pulling her hips down, and somewhere in the haze of her orgasm, she heard a desperately ragged moan joining in with her own before he finally slowed beneath her and she collapsed forward, curling herself onto his chest and feeling the last exhausted pumps of his cock between her legs.

One thing that caught her attention in her satisfied stupor was how tired she felt, despite being dead, and she wondered what it would feel like to sleep in the dreamscape.

Would she dream? _Could_ she dream? Or would she simply fall into darkness? And if she could, then could the revenant currently catching it's breath under her slip in there and stalk her?

Too many questions swirled in her mind and she pushed it aside, slipping down onto the mattress without opening her eyes and smiling when a warm hand pulled her close again.

Something wet slithered up the side of her neck and she giggled, curling away from his teasing tongue, “Knock it off, I need to rest,”

His mouth changed coarse and moved up to her own, seeking the attention of her lips. Too tired to resist, Nancy let him take over, returning his kisses as much as she could.

“C'mon, seriously,” she mumbled, pushing him lazily and rolling away, “I'm dead on my feet, Krueger,”

She heard him chuckle, and a finger slipped down her side to trace the curve of her ass, finding the raised lettering that had scarred her own skin.

“I look good on you,” he snickered, tracing his own name.

“Mmf,” Nancy mumbled, burying her face into the sweat soaked sheets and trying to ignore the finger now stroking her slick entrance from behind.

“Ahh Nancy,” he drawled, “haven't you learned by now that you can't escape me by sleeping?”

Nancy tried to roll further away, only to find herself on her stomach, her arms pinned above her head.

“Let me sleep, Freddy, please,” she groaned, annoyed to hear him laughing again.

“I do love it when you beg,” he growled, and Nancy let out a yelp as he thrust back into her without warning.

“Shit,” she gasped, realising just how much she had underrated his stamina. Her orgasm had barely faded and he was already hard again inside her, working his way to an almost frenzied pace. All Nancy could do was turn her head to the side and listen to the now freely flowing growls and pants coming from above her.

“Come again,” he hissed in her ear, his free hand slipping beneath her to tease her sensitive clit. Nancy was almost sure it would be too much, but the heat from his fingers was more than enough to fire up her nerves, and the sounds he made while he had her pinned and submissive were intoxicating.

“Fuck, Freddy-” her words were cut off by an orgasm that rested on the verge of painful, and she whimpered into the mattress as he bottomed out inside her and collapsed, his searing chest pressing against her back.

“What a dream,” he whispered in her ear, “To stay like this for eternity... fuck, feed, kill, repeat,”

Nancy gave a weak laugh, unsure if he was joking, but she felt him reluctantly slide from between her thighs and stretch out next to her, an arm snaking around her waist to pull her flush and she gave a silent prayer of thanks. She didn't think she could handle round three just yet.

A million questions still crowded her brain, but the warmth of the body next to her and the dim flickering of the fires around them lulled her towards sleep faster than she expected, and without even asking, one of her questions were answered.

She didn't dream.


End file.
